Harry Potter and Love's Curse
by Griffin C. Gregory
Summary: Harry Potter has spent the past 3 years of his life living with the Weasleys. Ever since Professor McGonagall had rescued him from the Dursleys his life had been, well, magical! He finally has a best mate, Ron Weasley, and is extremely close with Ginny Weasley. Meanwhile, Dumbledore believes the two could be bonded using the spell Love's Curse. Ships: Harry/Ginny Ron/Hermione
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This is the first story in an ambitious project that I decided to start a few months ago. I'm going to be attempting to make a three story harry potter series that combines several popular fanfiction themes. The title of the first story, Harry Potter and Love's Curse, comes from my interpretation of the very popular soul-bond. While the actual soul-bond won't occur until later in the story, it will be the driving force behind the story. There is a spell that is called Love's Curse, if it is cast upon a couple destined to be together it will create a soul-bond. It is called Love's Curse because if one of them dies, it becomes a literal curse for the other, spending the rest of their lives trying fill the hole in themselves from where their deceased soulmate once lived.

Love's Curse will follow Harry through all the seventh book with several changes, the main one being that Harry leaves the Dursleys for the Weasleys when he is eight. The following story I have planned will probably be called Harry Potter and the Descent into Darkness, although that is subject to change. The final story's title is undecided.

Thank-you to anyone who reads this. Reviews will be extremely appreciated.

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, they are all property of J. K. Rowling

* * *

Prologue

Sirius laughed as he dueled with his cousin Bellatrix in the Department of Mysteries. It was good to finally get out of Grimmauld Place and stretch his legs. He blocked another spell from her and taunted, "Come on Bella is that really all you have? Azkaban must have made you soft."

Bellatrix snarled and continued casting spells with deadly accuracy. Sirius knew that he should end the duel as quickly as possible, but he was having way too much fun…

As that though passed through his mind he stumbled over some rubble that had gotten knocked off of the frame of veil. Bellatrix laughed triumphantly as her stunner hit Sirius.

On the other side of the room Harry saw Sirius and get hit by Bellatrix's stunner. He couldn't move as he saw Sirius fall toward the veil with his cocky smile still frozen on his face.

But he never did reach the veil. Faster then lightning, Harry saw Ginny rush forward and shove Sirius' stunned body, causing him to miss the veil and land solidly on the ground. Harry sighed with relief, but the breath caught in his throat as he watched Bellatrix cast a bludgeon curse at the currently distracted Ginny. He tried to throw a shield in front of her but was too late. The spell hit it's contact and Ginny was catapulted backwards. The last thing Harry saw of Ginny was her make eye contact with him and her voice say the words "I love you" in his head before she fell though the veil. Instantly her presence in his mind was cut, and the last thing he remembered was the room shaking as he screamed in rage and agony.

* * *

Harry didn't wake until two days later. He looked blearily around him and saw that he was in the hospital wing. The first thing he noticed was the pain throbbing in his head. The second thing that he noticed was that was all he felt in his head, pain, and nothing else. It was his muffled sob that alerted Molly Weasley that he had woken up. She quickly got out of her chair and engulfed him in a hug. "Oh Harry, thank god you're awake. Madam Pomfrey said that you were in a coma and that she wasn't sure when you would wake up. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

"Head… hurts" Harry managed to mutter.

"Well I would expect it to hurt after what you've been through, extreme shock, followed by a severe depletion in your magic levels, and a concussion to top it all off. Madam Pomfrey said as she bustled in, checking Harry and giving him potions to drink.

"Ah, it's good to see that you have finally awoken Harry" Harry heard Dumbledore say as he walked into the hospital wing.

"Professor… what happened?" Harry knew what happened, he had seen it with his own eyes, and even if he hadn't he could feel her absence. But a small part of him still had hope, maybe the only thing that had happened was the veil had cut their connection, maybe she was waiting outside the hospital wing with the rest of his friends, wanting to check on him and see if he was all right.

Dumbledore must have noticed Harry looking at the doorway, his eyes full of hope because he quietly said, "I'm sorry Harry, but she won't be coming through, there's no return from where she went."

Nothing had ever pained Dumbledore more than seeing Harry's eyes, usually so full of life, go completely dull.

Everything came rushing back, Ginny falling through the veil, Harry screaming in rage and running after Bellatrix. He remembered casting the Cruciatus curse on her, and it had worked. Harry almost ejected the potions that were now in his stomach remembering the satisfaction he had felt seeing Bellatrix suffer for what she had done. Then Voldemort had possessed him and the last thing he remembered thinking was about how much he missed and loved Ginny.

Shaking his head, Harry cleared it of thoughts, not wanting to dwell on them, and noticed Sirius in the room with Dumbledore. "Sirius…" He murmured.

Sirius quickly embraced Harry weeping. "I'm s-so sorry Harry, if I had taken Bellatrix more seriously none of this would have happened."

"No, I didn't put a shield up in time, it was my fault." Harry moaned into his godfather's shoulder.

"It was neither of your faults, you didn't cast the spell, Bellatrix did." Dumbledore said sadly.

Harry and Sirius embraced for another minute before Sirius cleared his throat and let go. "Now, I know that this is probably a terrible time to tell you, but Dumbledore has finally agreed to tell you the reason that Voldemort has been hunting you all these years" Sirius said while glaring at the headmaster.

Dumbledore suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable "Ah, yes Harry I'm afraid your in for one more shock tonight…"

* * *

1 month later

Harry sat in his room on Ginny's bed in the Burrow toying with his wand. He was thinking of two words, just the two simple words: Avada Kedavra. Those words were all that it would take for him for him to end his misery. The past few weeks had passed by without him noticing or acknowledging them. Hermione and Ron had tried to help, but Hermione, for once, had no idea what to do, and Ron was also dealing with intense grief. Harry's life was a void. Ginny had been his everything; she had helped him get through the past few difficult years of his life. Whenever Harry was troubled by something, whether it be big or small, Ginny had been there to comfort him. She always knew exactly what to say or do in order to get him to smile, one of the benefits of having a mental connection with him.

He had often asked her what he would do without her. "Probably wallow in self-pity." She would brightly reply. If only she had known just how right she was.

Harry doubted. No, he knew that he couldn't go on without her. No one else would ever be able to fill the void that now existed in his mind where she had once been. No one understood him like she did, and he doubted he would ever be able to find someone else who could even begin to take her place.

Avada Kedavra

The words echoed in his mind, as if his conscious was begging him to utter them. But something held him back. No, Ginny would not approve, she would want him to carry on. After all, it was his destiny to destroy Voldemort. Harry wearily sighed and put his wand back in his pocket. He couldn't allow himself to give up now, the wizarding world needed him, and it would be beyond selfish of Harry to take away their only hope in ending Voldemort's reign of terror. But, once Voldemort was taken care of, well, then maybe Harry would think back on those two words.

He got off of the bed and started heading towards the door. He stopped at a shelf when he noticed a framed picture. Fresh tears formed in his eyes as he recognized the picture. It showed him and Ginny happily taking turns on the swing that was attached to the large tree behind the Burrow. The photo had been taken many years ago, when he was only eight and Ginny seven. A ghost of a smile crossed Harry's face as he remembered that day; it had been shortly after he had left the Dursley's forever…

* * *

Harry Potter and Love's Curse

Chapter 1: Abuse

Number 4 Privet Drive was exactly like every other house in the neighborhood. Its lawn was freshly mown and the flowerbeds were well kept, absolutely nothing about the house or the family that lived in it seemed out of the ordinary. But, the family had a secret that they did there best to make sure no one ever found out. That secret was the reason that the lawn was cut so early in the morning and that the flowerbed was almost always in perfect condition.

A young boy labored in the already intense heat of the summer sun, pulling weeds and watering flowers. He was extremely thin, partly due to lack of food and partly due to the baggy, hand-me-down clothes he wore. He had a head full of messy black hair, circular glasses wrapped in tape, and a thin lightning-bolt shaped scar on his head.

He was only eight years old, and yet every morning his aunt woke him up by rapping on the door of the cupboard that he lived in. She would then force him to do backbreaking work in the yard.

"Before all the neighbors see your unnaturalness," she would say scathingly. Once he was finished with that she would then have him cook the family breakfast, a chore he had gotten very good at. He had to; if he even slightly burnt anything then his uncle would beat him.

When he was finished cleaning up for them after breakfast he would go school. He left quite a bit earlier than Dudley, due to the fact that he was forced to walk, while Vernon drove Dudley on his way to work. The second Harry returned from school Petunia forced him to do more chores and start cooking dinner. He would spend the rest of the night wondering if he would receive the small dinner that was given to him at night whenever Petunia didn't "forget".

It went without saying that Harry's life was a living hell.

Summers were even worse because he didn't get to escape his relatives and go to school, instead he would spend the entire day working for them. It was during one of these summer days that Harry was doing his usual yard work. He was so focused on what he was doing that he failed to notice the woman approach him form behind.

"H-Harry Potter?" The woman asked. He flinched when he heard his name. "Oh my god it is you!"

Once he realized that he wasn't going to be hit he turned around to see whom it was that was talking, and a very strange sight greeted his eyes. The woman was older, probably in her 60's; she was very stern looking, but seemed more disturbed at the moment. The strangest part was her outfit; she looked like she was dressed for Halloween, wearing emerald robes and a long, pointed hat.

"C-can I help you with s-something?" Harry stuttered wondering who the woman was and how she knew his name.

The woman flinched when she saw that he had a black eye and several other bruises along his arms and legs. "You most certainly can Harry, would you please take me to your Aunt and Uncle?"

"Um t-they usually don't like strangers" he blurted and immediately flinched when he realized what he had said. "I'm s-sorry, they're inside I-I'll bring you to them." He led her to the front the door, opened it, and yelled. "Aunt Petunia, s-someone's at the door looking for you and Uncle Vernon."

"What did I tell you about yelling boy!" an angry Petunia yelled walking toward the door, followed by an even angrier Vernon. When they saw who was at the door they froze in their tracks.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing boy, bringing one of your freaks to our home!" Vernon backhanded Harry as he said this, knocking him to the floor.

He would have done more if it weren't for the flash of red that hit him, knocking him out. Petunia's scream was cut short by another flash of red. An enraged Minerva McGonagall stood over the two muggles, wishing she could do more to make them pay for what they had done.

"W-what did you do to them?" Harry asked staring with wide eyes at the stunned bodies of his relatives.

"Not enough I would say, but I'm afraid that I cannot do anymore to them. Now I need to get you out of here immediately, gather your belongings Harry."

Harry stared at her. "G-get me out of here? But this is my home."

"Not anymore, and I would hardly call a place that forces you to be a slave a home, now please gather your things, I don't want you to have to be here a second longer." McGonagall said briskly, but not unkindly.

"That's the thing, I don't really have any belongings." Harry flinched when he saw McGonagall's nostrils flare with anger. "I-I'm sorry…"

"Nonsense boy, there's nothing to apologize for, now if you don't have any belongings, then let's get you out of here, grab onto my arm." She held out her arm as she said this. Harry grabbed her arm and she turned on her heel, apparating away from the Dursleys.

Dumbledore was in his office at Hogwarts making preparations for the next school year when one of his silver instruments began whirring. He went to it and swore when he discovered that Harry Potter was no longer at the Dursleys. Just as he was making preparations to leave there was an angry knock on the door followed by the sound of it opening. He turned and sighed with relief when he saw that it was Professor McGonagall with the young Harry Potter. The relief he felt quickly vanished when he saw the physical state that Harry was in, extremely thin and covered with bruises. "Minerva, if I may ask, why are you here with Harry, and what happened to him?"

McGonagall's eyes flashed with anger as she told Dumbledore about how she had decided to check on Harry, only to find out that his family had been starving and beating him, as well as forcing him to spend almost every hour of his life working for them.

Dumbledore wearily sat down and turned to Harry who was looking around his office with obvious amazement. "Is all of this true Harry?" he asked kindly, noticing the slight flinch Harry made upon hearing his name.

"Y-yes sir" Harry stuttered.

"Well don't worry Harry, you will not be returning to the Dursleys." McGonagall told him with warmth that Dumbledore rarely heard from her.

"I-If I may ask sir, why did I have to live with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore sighed, "Because Harry, they were your only family and I believed that you would be safe there, it would appear that I was wrong."

He turned to Fawkes and whispered in the phoenix's ear. Fawkes flew out his window and McGonagall looked at him questionably. "I just sent Fawkes to fetch Madam Pomfrey to look over Harry" Dumbledore said, answering her question. Harry was staring out of the window that Fawkes had just flown out of.

"Who are you people? It's almost like you can use… magic." Harry asked with wonder.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes Harry we can, and so can you." He chuckled again at Harry's shocked face and then turned when his door opened once again. "Ah Madam Pomfrey, I'm glad that you could come so quickly, it would appear that young Harry hear is in need of some medical attention."

Madam Pomfrey gasped when she saw Harry. "What happened to him?"

"I am sorry to say that his relatives are the ones responsible for it" McGonagall told her angrily.

"Yes, I fear I made a terrible mistake in putting Harry with the Dursleys, a mistake I intend to fix. Dumbledore explained.

Now, Madam Pomfrey, would you please take Harry to the hospital wing and patch him up. Oh, and he will probably have many questions about the wizarding world so feel free to answer them." The school nurse nodded and ushered Harry out of his office.

Dumbledore turned to McGonagall. "Well it seems that we will need to find Harry a more suitable place to live."

McGonagall nodded. "Finding a home shouldn't be too difficult, most families would love to get to have the boy-who-lived in their house. The question is which family would be good for Harry."

Dumbledore thought for a few minutes. "Well I think I know the perfect family for Harry, they love children, won't treat him differently, and he will be somewhat isolated from the rest of the wizarding world."

"And what family would that be?" McGonagall asked.

"The Weasleys" Dumbledore replied smiling warmly at the thought of the Burrow.

McGonagall also smiled. "Ah yes, they would be perfect."


	2. Chapter 2: The Weasleys

"Is he coming today Mum?" an excited Ginny Weasley asked her mother Molly Weasley, who was trying to make breakfast. "For the last time Ginny, yes he is coming today and I hope that I don't need to remind you that you are not to bombard him as soon as he gets here. He is coming from a very abusive family and we do not want to frighten him as soon as he gets here." "Yes I know mum, I just can't wait for him to get here." Ginny happily replied.

"Aw is ickle Ginny still talking about Harry Potter?" Fred asked as he and George walked into the kitchen. "You know Fred, if I didn't know better, I would think that Ginny might be getting a crush on the poor boy." "You are right of course, my dear brother, she has been talking about him quite a bit, and she hasn't even met him!"

"That's enough from you two, now would you help me set the table?"

"Yes Mum." The twins responded.

Once the table had been set Mrs. Weasley called the rest of the family down for breakfast. Ron was the first one to sit down, much to Bill's amusement. "I swear Ron, nothing gets you moving faster than food." "What? I'm a growing boy." Ron replied indignantly as he shoveled eggs onto his plate.

Charlie walked in and sat down without saying a word, avoiding his mother's eyes. "Ah there you are Charlie, are you sure you don't want to go to the ministry today with your dad to see if you can apply for a job?" Molly asked hopefully. Charlie sighed with exasperation. "No mum, I already told you that I don't want to get a job with the ministry. I heard that they were looking for dragon caretakers in Romania and I was hoping to get a job there." "Don't be ridiculous, you can't go all the way to Romania, especially not to work with dragons, it's too dangerous." Charlie's face started turning red. "But Bill's working in Egypt for Gringotts. Why can't I leave also?" "Because your only 17!" Molly said outraged.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, which caused Ginny to squeak, "He's here." Charlie continued to glare at his mother. "We'll continue this later Charlie, now let's give Harry a warm welcome" Arthur said walking towards the door.

* * *

"Alright Harry, if you would please grab my arm." Dumbledore said to an excited Harry. After a week of staying at Hogwarts, Harry was looking much better. All of the bruises were gone and there were only a few faint scars on his back and arms. Having three huge meals a day had also made him look quite a bit healthier.

Harry had been ecstatic when Dumbledore had told him that he would be living with a wizard family. Now that the day had finally come to go to the Burrow, Harry was a bit nervous. "What if they don't like me professor?" he asked. Dumbledore smiled at Harry seeing the nervousness in his eyes. "Don't worry Harry, they will love you like their own son." This seemed to reassure Harry who grabbed the headmaster's arm. Dumbledore chuckled at his eagerness and apparated to the Burrow.

They appeared in the front lawn and Harry stared around in amazement. It looked like a farm that he had seen on TV except nothing was organized. Chickens wandered around aimlessly and the garden was in disarray, covered in weeds as well as what looked like walking potatoes."

"Professor Dumbledore, what are those things?" Harry asked pointing at the "potatoes". "Those are garden gnomes, they are a magical creature that infests gardens." Dumbledore replied leading him towards the house. Harry took a close look at the house. It appeared to have originally been a single story house, with several stories added on haphazardly. The whole structure seemed to be held up by magic, which Harry assumed was the case.

They reached the door and Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Ready to meet your new family Harry?" He nodded and Dumbledore knocked on the door. It was opened shortly by a man with thinning red hair who appeared to be in his mid-thirties. "Ah hello Dumbledore, and you must be Harry Potter." Harry nodded his head shyly. "Well come on in, everyone is excited to meet you." Arthur said holding the door open for them. Harry nervously walked in, staying very close to Dumbledore.

As soon as he stepped into a house he was hit by a small red blur. He looked down to see a small redhead girl hugging him. "Ginny! I told you not to rush the poor dear as soon as he arrived." Molly scolded. Ginny let go of Harry and smiled at him. "Sorry mum, I just wanted to give him a warm welcome." She said still smiling at Harry. Harry smiled back. "Thanks err…" "My name's Ginny." Ginny told him. "Well thanks Ginny." Harry said smiling.

During their exchange Dumbledore noticed an extremely faint pink glow envelope the two, although no one else seemed to notice. "Interesting…" He thought.

Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and introduced Harry to the rest of the Weasley family, pulling him from Weasley to Weasley, much to everyone's amusement. "Well it would appear that Harry is in good hands, so I will be off." Dumbledore stated. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for breakfast professor, there's plenty." Molly said indicating the table heaping with food. "As much as I hate to turn down one of your meals Molly, I unfortunately have to decline. I'm meeting with the minister today and I'm already five minutes late." Dumbledore replied as he waved good-bye to Harry and the Weasley's and stepped out of the door.

As Dumbledore left the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry. "Harry dear, why don't you sit down with the rest of us and eat. You're much too thin, but don't worry, I'll have you looking nice and healthy in a few weeks." Harry sat down and smiled shyly at the rest of the Weasley family as Mrs. Weasley began shoveling food onto his plate. Harry was extremely hungry so he began eating ravenously, but by the time that Mrs. Weasley was putting thirds on his plate his stomach was becoming painfully full. Ginny noticed his uncomfortable look as he stared at the huge pile of food still left on his plate. "Mum, Harry can't eat all that, I'm sure he's full after all the food you've given him." Harry flashed her a grateful look and nodded his head. "Oh, I'm sorry Harry, I just want to make sure you have enough to eat. Ginny why don't you show Harry around the Burrow." "Ok mum!" She replied, eagerly grabbing Harry's hand.

She ran outside the front door, dragging Harry's hand behind her, and started pointing out various things. "Those are our chickens, and that's our garden. Ugh, looks like the garden gnomes came back, hopefully mum won't make us get rid of them today. Oh! I've got to show you my favorite swing!" Harry happily followed Ginny around the yard, feeling a warm glow inside of him. He had never had someone his age to talk to and be friends with. Dudley had made sure of that. Ginny seemed genuinely interested in spending time with him, and he could already feel a special bond forming between them as she happily answered his questions about garden gnomes.

"And this is my favorite swing! Bill made it for me when I turned four, wanna ride on it?" "Sure!" Harry laughed as he got on. "Could you give me a push?" He asked once he was seated. Ginny started pushing him and he laughed as he went up and down, higher and higher. After a few minutes Ginny yelled, "Alright Harry, can I have a turn?" "Ok!" Harry said jumping off. Once Ginny had gotten on Harry started pushing her. They took turns on the swing for the next hour and didn't notice Mr. and Mrs. Weasley standing a few yards away watching them with smiles on their face. "I'm so glad we were able to do this for him Arthur." Molly said with a happy tear in her eye. "Yes, I think he'll fit in the family perfectly." Arthur said raising the camera he had brought to his face and taking a picture of the two.

Finally Harry and Ginny got tired of swinging and sat underneath the tree. "Thanks Ginny, this has been the most fun I've ever had." Harry said truthfully. Ginny smiled warmly at him and gave him a hug. Harry hugged her back happily, marveling at having someone actually care about him for once. Once they broke the hug Harry nervously looked at Ginny. "So Ginny, a-are we friends now?" She laughed happily before replying, "The best."

A/N: Sorry for the short chapters, after this one they should start getting longer.


	3. Chapter 3: The Sorcerer's Stone Part 1

A/N: And we're now starting to get into the The Sorcerer's Stone. Just as a forewarning, Harry's first few years at Hogwarts will be similar to the books so I'll get through them pretty quickly. A lot of people have been expressing concern about the fact that the prologue shows that Ginny will eventually die. I can understand their concern. As an avid Harry/Ginny fan I wouldn't really want to read a fanfic that had one of them die. I'm not going to say much because I don't want to give away too much of my plans, but I can promise you Ginny will eventually come back. She won't be gone for good! It won't be for a long time though, if all goes according to plan it won't be until the third story I have planned. But I can promise that it'll be worth the wait!

I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed/pm'd me. Any and all feedback is welcome!

And without further ado, I give you Chapter 3 of Harry Potter and Love's Curse.

 **Chapter 3: The Sorcerer's Stone Part 1**

3 years later…

Harry awoke suddenly and nearly fell out of his bed. He sighed wearily seeing that it was only four in the morning. He had been waking up like this off and on for the past few months, always to the same strange dream that ended with a flash of green light.

Knowing that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep he quietly crept out of his room, trying not to wake up Ron in the process. Once he had silently closed the door he went down the stairs and slumped on the couch.

There was a muffled yell and he quickly jumped up to see what had made the noise. He turned to see a very annoyed Ginny, who had evidently been sleeping on the couch before he had sat on her.

"Merlin, I'm sorry Ginny! I didn't see you there." He apologized.

Ginny sighed, "It's alright Harry, what are you doing down here so early?"

"Nightmare"

"Same one?"

"Yep"

"Are you sure you don't want to tell mum or dad about it?" she asked while moving so that Harry could sit next to her.

"No I don't want to worry them, it's just a stupid dream." He responded after sitting down.

"If you say so, but I do think that you should tell someone…"

"I told you." Harry smirked

"I mean an adult you prat" Ginny said laughing.

"So why were you down here?" His question caused Ginny to stop laughing and look down at the floor. "I, uh, I just couldn't sleep." She said hastily.

"What's the matter Ginny? Are you having nightmares also?" Harry asked concerned.

"No nothing like that, I've just been thinking."

"About?"

"About how in less than a month you and everyone else will be going to Hogwarts and I'll be stuck at home. I-I just feel like I'm losing my brother and my best friend. I've always had you and Ron, but this year I have no one."

Harry sighed. He had been worried about this. "Don't worry Ginny, it's only for a year and then you'll get to join us. I promise I'll write you every week, I might even be able to make Ron send you one every once and awhile. And you're not the only one who feels like they're losing their best friend. I'm going to miss you a ton Gin."

Ginny smiled at the nickname Harry had given her that she allowed only him to use. "I'm just worried that you'll find someone to replace me at Hogwarts."

Harry hugged her. "No one could replace you Gin, you're my best friend, and nothing is going to change that."

Ginny hugged him back and stood up. "Thanks Harry, I know I'm worrying about nothing. Now I really need to try to get some sleep before mum wakes me up in a few hours. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight Ginny"

"Oh and Harry?"

"Ya?"

"Happy Birthday!"

Harry smiled realizing that he was finally eleven and should be getting his letter from Hogwarts that day.

* * *

Just as he had predicted, there was a pecking on the burrow's window a few minutes after they had started eating breakfast. Harry eagerly ran to the window and opened it. A brown barn owl hopped in and stretched out its leg, which held a letter addressed to Harry from Hogwarts. He gave the owl a piece of bacon after taking the letter and it flew out the window while giving a hoot of thanks.

Harry eagerly opened the letter at the table. When Molly walked into the kitchen she saw him reading the letter. "Oh good, your letter came in!"

"Ya finally! Can we go to Diagon Alley today to get my stuff?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Off course dear, it is your birthday after all"

A few hours later Molly, Harry, Ron, and Ginny where standing in front of the fireplace. "Now remember you two, this trip is for Harry. We've already gotten supplies for you Ron."

"Ya hand-me-downs" Ron grumbled.

After a quick trip through the fireplace they were all standing in the leaky cauldron. Tom gave them a greeting as they headed over to the brick wall to enter Diagon Alley. Before they reached the wall though, they ran into a very large man.

"Hello Hagrid!" Ginny said brightly

Hagrid smiled seeing The Weasleys and Harry. "Hey ye guys, and happy birthday Harry! I imagine yer here for your school shopping."

Molly nodded. "Yes, we have to stop at Gringotts first so that Harry can get money from his vault."

"As a matter of fact I've got to go to Gringotts as well on official Hogwarts business. Dumbledore sent me personally." Hagrid said while puffing up his chest. "I'll just tag along if you don't mind."

"Not at all!" Harry said.

Harry excitedly looked from shop to shop as they walked towards Gringotts. He couldn't wait to get his gold so that he could start buying all of the supplies he would need.

When they reached Gringotts Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry. "How about you and Hagrid go to your vaults and we'll wait for you."

"But mum, I want to go with Harry!" Ginny said in outrage.

"Oh alright you can go with them, what about you Ron?"

"I'll just wait with you here, I'm not a very big fan of the cart ride." Ron said turning slightly green.

Mrs. Weasley led Ron over to a bench to wait for them, and Harry, Ginny, and Hagrid headed over to the nearest goblin.

"Could you take me to my vault?" Harry asked, handing over his vault key.

"Yes of course, let me just call Griphook. Griphook! Please come over and take Mr. Potter to his vault."

Griphook walked over, took Harry's key, and led them to a cart. Before they got in Hagrid importantly handed a note to Griphook. Griphook read it and nodded his head saying, "Very well, we'll stop there after Mr. Potter's vault."

The cart took off and after a few minutes of wild dips and turns, they arrived at Harry's vault. Harry and Ginny hopped off and waited for Griphook to open it.

"Wow" Ginny exclaimed. "It always amazes me how much gold you have here Harry." She grinned and giggled a bit when she saw him turn red and try to block her view of his vault with his body. She knew how uncomfortable he got opening his vault in front of her and the other Weasleys and loved teasing him about it.

Harry filled his money bag full of galleons and they hopped back on the cart. The cart took off again and went even deeper into Gringotts, until it stopped in front of a vault that didn't have any keyhole on it. Hagrid got out as Griphook walked over to the vault door and stroked it with his hand, causing it to open. Harry and Ginny watched as it opened and Hagrid quickly snatched a small package that was inside it. When he got back to the cart Ginny looked at him questionably.

"Hagrid, what was in the vault?"

"Sorry Ginny, can't tell ye two. Official Hogwarts business." He replied patting his pocket.

* * *

Mrs. Weasley and Ron got up and walked over to Harry, Ginny, and Hagrid when they saw them come back from the vaults.

"Alright, all set Harry?" She asked.

"Yep! let's get to it." He replied excitedly.

"Oh Harry, I'll tag along with ya guys a bit further. I still need to get you a birthday present and I think I'll let you pick out an owl. Yer gonna need one at Hogwarts" Hagrid said.

So they headed into Diagon Alley and started Harry's shopping. After a few shops, Hagrid took Harry into the Pet Menagerie to pick out an owl. Harry picked out a beautiful snowy owl that he immediately decided to name Hedwig. Before they rejoined the others Harry stopped Hagrid.

"Hagrid, do you think you could do me a favor? Ginny's birthday is coming up and I need to get her a present. Do you think you could buy it for me while we do the rest of our shopping?"

Hagrid nodded. "Sure thing Harry, what do you want me to buy for ya?"

Harry handed Hagrid a handful of galleons "She's always wanted a cat, do you think you could pick one out for me?"

"Will do Harry, I'll just drop it by for you on Ginny's birthday."

"Thanks Hagrid, and thanks for the owl!

"Yer Welcome Harry. Now I best be off. I've got a cat to buy and a package to deliver to Dumbledore."

Harry waved goodbye to Hagrid and then walked over to the group and showed them his new owl. "Do you like her? I've decided to name her Hedwig."

Hedwig hooted affectionately at the sound of her name.

"Oh she's beautiful Harry" Ginny said as she gently stroked Hedwig's feathers.

After another hour of shopping, Harry only had one last thing to buy: a wand. While Mrs. Weasley and Ron went off to get everyone ice cream, Harry and Ginny went into Mr. Ollivander's wand shop. They looked around at the shelves full of boxed wands as they entered the shop.

"Well if it isn't Harry Potter, I was wondering when I would get to see you!" a voice said causing them both to jump.

They turned to see Mr. Ollivander. "And you must be Ginny Weasley. You two remind me a lot of James and Lily when they were your age. They made such a good couple."

Ginny blushed and Harry looked at him with a confused expression on his face.

"Right… well I'm here to pick out a wand."

Mr. Ollivander smiled, "Of course, of course. Now let's get started shall we?"

A few minutes later they walked out of the shop, both deep in thought. "So you and You-Know-Who having matching wands?"

"It would appear so. Please don't tell mum, it would cause her to worry about nothing. Voldemort has been gone for years now."

Ginny nodded and they both went over to find Mrs. Weasley and Ron.

* * *

That night they had a small birthday party for Harry. Molly made all of Harry's favorite foods as well as a huge cake. Once they had finished stuffing themselves, they all gathered in the living room so that Harry could open up his presents. Even though he hadn't lived with the Dursleys for years, he was still amazed whenever he got presents.

Harry opened his first present which was from Ron. He pulled out a bright orange Chudley Cannons poster and a box of chocolate frogs. "I figured you could hang it up next to your new bed at Hogwarts." Ron said.

"Thanks Ron." Harry replied chuckling. Over the past few years he just hadn't had the heart to tell Ron that he was definitely not a Cannons fan.

The next present he opened was from the twins. He pulled out a package of assorted pranks from Zonko's Joke Shop.

"You'll be needing those at Hogwarts Harry!" Fred explained

"Yes, I've found the smoke bombs particularly useful for distractions against nosy caretakers." George added winking.

Harry laughed, but quickly stopped when he noticed Mrs. Weasley's frown.

After the twins came Percy's package. "Thank-you Percy." He said politely as he put aside the stationary and new quill that he had received.

"You're very welcome Harry." he replied, causing Ron and the twins to snigger.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gotten him a box of owl treats and other owl-maintenance supplies. From Bill he received a charmed amulet from Egypt and Charlie had gotten him a pair of dragon hide boots.

Finally he got to his last present, which was from Ginny. "Wow thanks Gin", he said as he put on the hand-knitted scarf that Ginny had made using Gryffindor colors.

"You know I haven't been sorted into Gryffindor yet right?" he added smiling.

"I know, but I'm sure you will be. I know both of your parents were. Plus you've been living with a family of Gryffindors for years now." she replied.

Harry thanked everyone for the presents and they all stayed up for a few more hours playing exploding snap and chess. Eventually, one-by-one they started going to bed until only Harry and Ginny were left.

"Thanks again for the scarf Gin, I'll be sure to wear it to Quidditch games!"

"No problem Harry, I had fun making it!" Ginny replied.

They sat in silence for a few minutes each deep in thought. Finally Ginny reached over and hugged Harry.

"I'm going to miss this" she said. "All of us being together as a family."

"I'm going to miss it also Gin, but like I said, it's only for a year."

Ginny sighed. "I know, I just hope it goes by quickly."

"It will, and then you'll be joining all of us at Gryffindor, assuming that's where me and Ron are sorted."

"Don't worry Harry, I'm sure you both will be." Ginny said stretching. "Now I should probably be getting to sleep."

"Ya me too." Harry replied getting up.

"Goodnight Harry"

"Goodnight Ginny"

* * *

The last few weeks of summer seemed to go by in a blur. They spent hours outside playing Quidditch, swimming in the pond, and just talking. Finally though September 1 rolled around and it was time for everyone to go to Hogwarts. Ginny sat quietly in the back of the Ford Anglia stroking Midnight, the beautiful black cat Harry had gotten her for her birthday.

"She'll keep you company while we're all at Hogwarts." he had said.

They reached the station only a few minutes before the train would leave, as was Weasley fashion. One-by-one they all ran through the barrier. On the other side, Percy said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley and immediately walked off to find the other prefects.

"Good-bye dear mother and Gin-Gin", Fred and George said in unison.

"Oh and don't worry Ginny, we'll send you something from Hogwarts soon, perhaps a toilet seat." Fred said.

"Great idea brother, we will get that for you as soon as possible." George added.

"You most certainly will not. I want you two to behave this year. I'm tired of constantly getting letters about your pranks." Molly scolded.

"Of course mum, we'll be on our best behavior, scouts honor." George said as they both held up their hands in a fake salute before heading out.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head before turning to Harry and Ron. "Now you two have a good first year, keep up your grades, and don't forget to write."

"Yes mum", they both said.

"I'll go find us an empty compartment, bye Ginny!" Ron said wandering off.

Harry gave Ginny a quick hug. "Bye Gin, don't worry I'll write to you every week letting you know how Hogwarts is."

"Thank you Harry." Ginny said.

"Alright I'd better follow Ron, see you guys later." Harry gave Ginny one last hug before following Ron.

They found an empty compartment in the back of the train and sat down in it. They had boarded the train just in time because as they sat down the train started to move. Harry quickly rolled down the window and waved to Ginny and Mrs. Weasley until they were out of sight.

Harry sat back down in his seat and sighed. He was going to miss Ginny a lot, but he tried not to think about it. He was finally on his way to Hogwarts! He and Ron spent the train ride talking about what they thought Hogwarts would be like. When the trolley came by Harry bought them both enough candy last them the rest of the trip.

While they were eating they heard their door slide open. They looked up to see a boy with blonde hair flanked by to big, burly boys who looked like body guards. They both recognized him as Draco Malfoy. Mr. Weasley had warned them about Lucius Malfoy and his son so they knew to be wary.

"I had heard that Harry Potter was on this train." He said looking at them. "Still living with the Weasleys then. It's a shame to see a member of a pureblood family living with those blood traitors. You should learn to make better friends Harry, I can help you with that." He said holding out his hand.

Harry could see Ron slowly turning red. "I think I know who I want to be friends with Malfoy, so you can just shove off."

Draco withdrew his hand. "I wonder what the Weasleys want from you, money probably. Although I've heard that you're seen a lot with their daughter, maybe they want to marry you into the family."

Both Harry and Ron stood up. "Get out Malfoy." Ron sneered.

"Why don't you make me Weasley", Draco fired back as the two boys behind him cracked their knuckles.

Before it came to blows though, Percy intervened. "What's going on here?"

Malfoy drawled, "None of your business. I'll be seeing you two later I suppose", and then walked away.

"You two are fighting and we haven't even arrived at Hogwarts yet." Percy said shaking his head.

"He started it, he as saying we only let Harry live with us for his money!" Ron replied.

"It would probably be best if you two just stayed away from him, the Malfoys are trouble."

"Believe me, we will" Harry said.

A few minutes later Harry and Ron met a bushy haired girl named Hermione and a round-faced boy named Neville. They had been looking for Neville's toad, named Trevor. Ron immediately found the girl annoying. "Mental that one." he had said as she left their compartment.

They changed into their robes and got off the train when they arrived at Hogwarts. They were happy to see Hagrid and got in a boat with Hermione and Neville. Harry looked on at his new home in wonder. The castle was huge, even bigger than he had imagined. The only thing that would have made that day any better would be if Ginny had been there. He thought.


	4. Chapter 4: The Sorcerer's Stone Part 2

A/N: So I finally finished touching up Chapter 4. I'm probably going to release a chapter every Friday for now on. I've also finished my rough draft for the Chamber of Secrets. I'm trying to decide if I want to upload it as two smaller chapters or one big chapter so you guys should give me your feedback on that. Thanks again to everyone who has read/reviewed this story so far. I appreciate every review and I'm getting excited after seeing how many views this story has gotten already!

 **Chapter 4: The Sorcerer's Stone Part 2**

Dear Ginny,

How are you? I've missed you a ton. I really wish you could be here. Hogwarts is great! Me and Ron both got sorted into Gryffindor just like you said we would. We're both learning a ton of new things and I think we've about figured out how to get around the castle. I like most of the professors here. Professor Mcgonagall, our head of house, can be strict, but she's a good teacher. Our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, seems a little too scared of his own subject. The one professor I don't like is Snape. He's our Potions professor and I'm pretty sure that he hates me, but I don't know why.

Do you remember when we went to Gringotts and Hagrid joined us to pick up that package? Well evidently that same day someone tried to break into a vault there, but it had been emptied earlier. I mentioned it to Hagrid and he seemed to get really anxious about it. I wonder what that was about?

Anyway, tomorrow we have our first flying lessons and I can't wait to wipe the smirk off of Malfoy's face when I show him that I'm a better flyer than he is. He's been bragging all week. I'm glad that and you and I snuck out to the broom closet every night over the summer to practice.

Me and Ron are getting along with most of our fellow Gryffindors, although Ron can't seem to stand one of the girls. Her name is Hermione Granger. She's kind of a know-it-all and really gets on Ron's nerves. I don't really find her that bad though. She just needs to learn to loosen up a little bit.

Well I should probably get going. I'll write to you again soon. I also managed to get Ron to write you a letter so his letter will come with this one.

Love,

Harry

Ginny smiled as she finished reading Harry's letter. She was relieved that he had remembered to write her and hadn't gotten too distracted at Hogwarts. She opened Ron's letter next and started reading his sloppy handwriting. It was similar to Harry's except he elaborated more on the girl that Harry had mentioned, Hermione Granger. He sounded like he hated her, but being his sister Ginny saw through the complaining and began to suspect that Ron had a crush on the girl. He was probably to thick to see it right now, but she figured he would eventually figure it out. Ginny gave Hedwig an owl treat and replied to both of the letters.

* * *

A few weeks later Ginny was excitedly sitting in the stands of the Quidditch field with her mum. When she found out that Harry had made the Quidditch team she had begged her to take her to his first match. Now she sat patiently waiting for the teams to come onto the field. When they did she saw Harry, who was quite a bit smaller than the rest of the team. She found herself grinning foolishly when she noticed that he was wearing the she had made him.

The two captains shook hands and the teams took to the air. Ginny was amazed at how quickly Harry could zip around on his new Nimbus 2000. A little bit into the game she heard her mum gasp and noticed that Harry's broom had started jerking around uncontrollably. After a few minutes of this, she started looking around to see if the professors would do anything. That's when she noticed a redheaded boy and bushy-haired girl making their way hurriedly throw the stands. She realized that the boy was Ron and the girl had to be Hermione.

She gasped when she saw Hermione set fire to a very greasy-haired adult who looked like one of the professors. She then heard her mum give a sigh of relief followed by another gasp. She looked and saw that Harry had gained control of his broom and then gone into a steep dive. She jumped up when she realized that he had found the snitch. She then laughed when he landed and threw up the snitch out of his mouth into his hands. the crowd went wild as Harry held up the snitch and Ginny went bounding down the stands.

Harry was thrilled, he had done it! Even with his broom malfunctioning he had still managed to catch the snitch. He saw Ron and hermione coming toward him, when he was hit from the other direction by someone giving him a hug.

"Ginny?! What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I made mum take me to your first match and now I'm congratulating you!" She replied.

"Good job mate!" Ron said as he and Hermione finally got to them.

"Do you know what happened to your broom?" Hermione asked.

"I've got no idea." Harry said shaking his head.

"Well we do. Me and Hermione noticed Snape staring at you and chanting. We think he was trying to curse you off your broom." Ron said excitedly.

"Was Snape the one you guys set fire to?" Ginny asked.

"You saw us?" Ron replied wide-eyed.

"Oh, hello there. I'm guessing that you're Ginny? Harry's told me a lot about you." Hermione said holding out her hand and smiling.

"And you're Hermione. Ron and Harry have told me a lot about you." Ginny replied shaking her hand.

"Ginny come on it's time to go. And great job Harry dear." Mrs. Weasley said coming up to them.

"Alright I'l talk you guys later, don't run into anymore trolls or three-headed dogs!" She said giggling as she walked off with Mrs. Weasley.

"You two really do tell her everything." Hermione laughed as they waved good-bye to Ginny.

"Ya I've told her pretty much everything that's happened to us this year." Harry replied.

"Let's get to the common room, I'm sure Fred and George have already started the party." Ron said eagerly.

* * *

Dear Harry,

Merry Christmas! I'm writing this to you from Romania. It's bloody freezing here. I'm pretty sure I have four layers on and I'm still shaking. I'm sorry you guys couldn't come to Romania with us, I was really looking forward to seeing you again. That's fine though, only half a school year left before I get to join you guys there! I hope you like my Christmas present, I made it here in Romania.

Have you guys figured out who Nicolas Flamel is yet? I tried asking mum and dad but neither of them knew. I'm surprised you haven't found him in the library yet, Percy's always gone on and on about how useful it is. *Rolls eyes* Anyway, if you guys learn anything new about him or figure out what Snape is up to please tell me.

Love,

Ginny

Harry smiled as he finished Ginny's letter. He had put on the dragon tooth necklace she had given him as well as his new Weasley sweater. Hopefully he would be able to tell her who Flamel was after tonight. He had decided to use the invisibility cloak he had gotten to check the restricted section that night.

* * *

Harry gazed cautiously at the mirror that was in the room he had stumbled in. It looked very old and had strange writing on it, but otherwise looked safe. He walked up to it and immediately shouted and looked around him. He could have sworn he had seen other people. However he looked around and no one was there. He looked back in the mirror and realized he was looking at his parents. Suddenly the scene in the mirror changed. He was looking at another couple. They looked extremely similar to his parents. The man looked almost exactly like his father, except he had his mother's eyes. And the girl had red hair like his mother, except she looked a lot more like… Ginny?

He came back to the mirror for several more nights to watch it cycle back and forth between his parents, and the older version of himself and Ginny. Finally one night Dumbledore appeared while he was sitting in front of the mirror.

"I thought I would find you here again tonight Harry."

Harry quickly got up. "I'm sorry sir, I just wanted to look."

"Many men have wasted away looking into this mirror."

"Sir, what is it that I'm seeing in this mirror."

Dumbledore smiled at him. "You haven't figured it out? This mirror shows you your deepest desire. What is it that you see Harry?"

"I see my parents." Harry replied. He decided not to tell Dumbledore about also seeing Ginny and him together. He understood his desire to be with his parents, but he didn't get why he also saw him with Ginny. Why would that be one of his greatest desires?

After Dumbledore told him that the mirror would be moved and then left, Harry headed back to the Gryffindor common room with more questions than answers. He decided to file away the image of him and Ginny and figure it out later. He wouldn't tell anyone about it, especially not Ginny.

* * *

Dear Ginny,

I promised I would tell you if we figured out who Nicolas Flamel is and we finally know. It turns out that he successfully mad a Sorcerer's Stone, which can be used to live forever. He and his wife are now over 600 years! We think that this is what Hagrid took out of Gringotts and what Snape is after. It makes sense now why we didn't find him in any of the books we read. We were reading books about modern wizards, not ones over 600 years old.

Unfortunately that isn't the biggest or worse news I have to tell you. Hermione, Ron, and I were visiting Hagrid when we discovered that he had somehow managed to get a dragon egg off of someone. You know how Hagrid has always wanted a Dragon. He intends to keep it and raise it, even though that's extremely illegal. To make matters worse, it's already hatched and we're pretty sure Draco was looking through Hagrid's window when it happened. Ron came up with a great idea though. We've written to Charlie and now we're trying to convince Hagrid to let us give Norbert (That's what he named the dragon) to Charlie.

Well, I should probably be going. I'll let you know how the dragon fiasco turns out and if Snape try to do anything about the stone.

Harry

Ginny put Harry's letter down and sighed. Harry's letters had been coming less and less often. At the beginning of the school year he had written to her every week to ask how she was doing. Now he only wrote to her when they discovered something new about what Snape was up to. Even in those letters he never really asked about her. He just talked about the great adventures of the "Golden Trio". A tear ran down her face as she realized Harry had lied to her. It appeared that he had replaced her with Ron and Hermione.

Hedwig gave a soft hoot and held out her leg. Ginny knew she was asking for a return letter since she always gave one. "Not this time Hedwig, you can just return to Hogwarts." She said giving her an owl treat. Hedwig gave a sad hoot and flew out her window. Maybe if he didn't get a response from her, he would realize what he was doing.

* * *

Harry sat glumly at the end of the Gryffindor table along with Ron and Hermione. Ever since they had gotten caught after giving Norbert to Charlie, none of the other Gryffindors were talking to them. He saw Hedwig fly in with the other owls delivering mail.

"Well at least I'll have a letter from Ginny to cheer me up." He thought as Hedwig landed on the table. He frowned when noticed that she wasn't carrying any mail for him. "Did Ginny not write back to me girl?" he asked reaching to stroke her feathers. She gave him an angry nip on the hand before he could and flew off. Harry sighed.

"What's up with your owl mate?" Ron asked.

"I don't know Ron, it appears that Hedwig is mad at me just like everyone else. Plus Ginny didn't respond to my letter."

Hermione looked at him. "That's weird, I noticed that she always responds immediately to your letters."

"Ya I guess she's mad at me as well." He replied

He shoved that thought to the back of his head. He had Ron and Hermione, he shouldn't be getting upset just because Ginny wasn't replying to him. Plus he had other things to worry about, like the detention he would be having with Ron soon.

* * *

Dear Ginny,

Sorry but this letter has to be quick, we're in a hurry. I found out in the Forbidden Forest that Voldemort is the one after the stone. He wants to use it t come back. We figure Snape is going to try to retrieve it for him tonight. Since Dumbledore isn't currently at Hogwarts, now would be the perfect time for him to do it. We tried telling Professor Mcgonagall, but she wouldn't believe us, so we're going to try to stop him tonight. I know you're upset at me for some reason since you didn't respond to my last letter, but I thought you should know just in case something happens.

Harry

Ginny gasped. Harry was going to try to stop Voldemort! She jumped when she heard a shriek from the kitchen. She quickly ran downstairs to see Professor Dumbledore comforting a sobbing Mrs. Weasley. She ran over to Dumbledore. "Are Harry, Ron, and Hermione ok? Did they stop You-Know-Who?"

Dumbledore looked surprised for a second and then chuckled, "You're well informed Ms. Weasley. Yes they are alive and were successful in their adventure."

"Then why is mum crying?"

"They weren't without injuries. Hermione was unscathed, but Ron received a slight concussion. Harry suffered a case of magical depletion. He hasn't woken up yet so we can't be sure how it happened, although I have a few guesses. But don't worry, both Harry and Ron will make a full recovery."

Ginny sighed with relief. "I want to see him."

"Yes I think that would be good for Harry, you may come along with your parents."

A quick floor trip later and they were in the hospital wing. Ginny immediately went over and sat next to Harry, who was still unconscious. She took his hand and started whispering to him soothingly. Dumbledore once again noticed an extremely faint pink glow around the two.

"Mr and Mrs. Weasley, do you think I could have a word with you in my office?"

"Of course Dumbledore." Mrs. Weasley said. She seemed a lot more calm now that she had seen Harry and Ron for herself.

Once they had reached his office, Dumbledore sat behind his desk and conjured two chairs for them, which they sat down in.

"So what do you want to talk to us about?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Ginny and Harry, are they close?" Dumbledore asked.

Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Extremely. they've been best friends since the first day that Harry arrived at the Burrow. It broke my heart to have to separate the two."

"Why do you ask sir?" Mr. Weasley asked looking confused.

"I've noticed an aura around the two since I first saw them together. Tell me, have either of you heard of the spell called _Love's Curse_?"

They both shook their heads.

"Well allow me to enlighten you. _Love's Curse_ is a spell that can only be successfully cast on two people who are destined to be together. When it is cast on the two it creates what is known as a soul bond. If I read their auras correctly then I believe that this spell could be cast on Harry and Ginny in the future with success."

"So you think their destined to be together?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

He nodded. "Without a doubt."

"Well this spell sounds nice and all, but if it's so good, then why does it's name involve a curse?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"That would refer to what happens if one of the two would die after being bonded. When two people are soul bonded, their souls become conjoined. So if one were to die, there would be a hole in the other person's soul that they wouldn't ever be able to fill. This almost always leads to extreme depression, thus the curse."

The Weasley parents sat in silence for a few seconds.

Finally, Mr. Weasley said, "Well, I believe that if either Ginny or Harry died, heaven forbid, then the other would become depressed anyway, soul bonded or not."

Mrs. Weasley nodded in agreement.

"So you two will give me permission to tell the two about _Love's Curse_ when I think they're ready?"

"Yes we do." Mr. Weasley replied.

"Excellent. That is all I had to tell you, so I would suggest we return to the hospital wing, I suspect that Ron will be waking soon. Harry will probably take a bit longer though.

* * *

Ginny sat quietly next to Harry in the hospital wing. She knew that he would be alright, but it still upset her to know that he had been hurt.

"Ginny? What are you doing here?"

She turned to see that Ron had woken up. She quickly got up and hugged Ron. "Oh you're awake! What happened to you? How did you get a concussion?"

Ron exclaimed what had happened up to him sacrificing himself to win the chess game. "After that I don't know what happened. You'll have to ask Harry or Hermione."

"I don't know where Hermione is, but Harry's unconscious. Dumbledore said he suffered a case of magical depletion, but that he would be just fine."

Suddenly Ron's eyes widened. "The stone! Did You-Know-Who get it?"

"No Mr. Weasley, you three were successful and Voldemort was stopped." Dumbledore said as he and Mr. Weasley re-entered the room.

Ron sighed with relief before cringing. "I'm in trouble aren't I?"

"On the contrary Mr. Weasley, you did a brave thing today. I don't see why you should be punished."

Suddenly Madam Pomfrey came in and started checking on Ron. "Good, you've made a full recovery, you can return to your dorm room to sleep if you want."

Ron stood up and stretched. "I think I will, It's been a long night." He gave Mrs. Weasley a hug before heading off to sleep.

Suddenly Madam Pomfrey gasped as she was checking on Harry.

"What's wrong Poppy?" Dumbledore asked.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just that Harry has already almost fully recovered. But that should have taken days."

"That is peculiar, maybe it's because of good company." Dumbledore said while looking at Ginny with twinkling eyes."

Madam Pomfrey scoffed. "Well that's preposterous Dumbledore, that wouldn't help him, unless…"

Suddenly Harry gave a moan and his eyes fluttered open. "Ginny?" He said when he noticed her.

Madam Pomfrey started ushering everyone out of the room. "I'm going to have to ask everyone to leave while I check on Harry. I'll be giving him a dreamless sleep posting when I'm done so you should probably return to your home and get some rest."

The Weasleys nodded and after Ginny and Mrs. Weasley had hugged a still groggy Harry, they left the room.

"Ive got a few quick questions for Harry, and then I'll be out of your hair Poppy." Dumbledore said.

"I actually have a few questions for you concerning Harry and Ginny Dumbledore ." Madam Pomfrey whispered to him.

Dumbledore nodded. "I will answer them, I believe I just had a similar conversation with the girl's parents.

* * *

Harry sat in the Hogwarts Express as it headed back from Hogwarts. All-in-all it had been a good year. The Gryffindors no longer hated them since they had gotten them the house cup and they had stopped Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Hermione you should come visit us over the summer." Ron said.

"Harry nodded his head in agreement. "Ya you should, we're gonna miss you. And we'll need someone to help us with our summer homework." he said grinning.

Hermione laughed. "If by help you mean copying my work then no. But ya I should be able to, after I stay a few weeks with my parents first."

"Brilliant." Ron replied.

Harry sighed happily and closed his eyes. Yes it had been a good year. He and Ron were closer than ever and had Hermione as a friend. All three were best friends and extremely close. That tends to happen when you stop a dark lord from gaining immortality together.

"The only thing missing is Ginny..." Harry thought sadly as the train pulled into the station and he noticed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the crowd, but there was no sight of Ginny

A/N: So Harry has broken his promise to Ginny and replaced her. For everyone who's concerned about this don't worry. They will eventually be close again, I just need Ginny to feel isolated during her first year so that she'll want to talk to Tom via the diary


	5. Chapter 5: Repairing Friendships

A/N: I'd like to apologize for the delay. After reading some of the reviews I had to agree that Ginny would want to fix her relationship with Harry right away. I slightly altered Ch. 4 and rewrote what I had written for Ch. 5. The rewriting took awhile which is the reason for the delay.

I would again like to thank anyone who has reviewed/liked

In this chapter Harry and Ginny work on repairing their friendship and Harry has a run-in with a certain house elf.

 **Chapter 5: Repairing Friendships**

Ginny sat in her favorite tree behind the Burrow. She had thought that she wouldn't be lonely anymore once Harry and Ron's first year was over, but she had been wrong. The first few weeks of summer had been ok. Harry and Ron were spending some time with her, but not nearly as much as they had the previous summer. She was also worried that once Hermione came to stay with them that they would ignore her completely.

Because she was having a lot more free time then she had planned she had recently started keeping a diary. She found that writing down her feelings helped her to not think about them too much.

Harry was also not having a great summer. He was having a good time with Ron and he was looking forward to Hermione coming over to visit, but there was one person he missed a lot: Ginny. They still talked, but nothing like they used to. It was like there was an invisible barrier between the two that he couldn't figure out how to get past. Whatever had caused her to stop replying to his letters was evidently still bugging her.

On top of his problems with Ginny, he still wasn't getting any mail. He had first noticed when Ron got letters from Hermione and he didn't. When Ron had asked her about it she had replied saying that she was sending Harry letters also and wondering why he wasn't responding. They eventually came to the conclusion that his mail was being intercepted. Hermione promised that once she got there she would help them figure out who was taking his mail.

When Mrs. Weasley had heard that Hermione would be staying the summer with them she had decided to put an extra bed in Ginny's room for her to stay in. There weren't any empty rooms for her and it wouldn't be appropriate to put her in Harry or Ron's room. Ginny was actually excited to find out about the arrangement. She hoped that she could ask her about Harry and maybe get some advice.

* * *

"Are you all packed?" Hermione's mum asked as Hermione came into the living room with her luggage.

"Yes mum, I think I've got everything. Thanks again for letting me stay the rest of the summer at Ron and Harry's!"

"Your welcome dear, I'm just glad that you were able to make some good friends at Hogwarts. I knew you were worried that you wouldn't be able to since you were new to the wizarding world. Harry and Ron sound like good kids. Your father and I really liked their parents when they came by to visit. Although Mr. Weasley seemed oddly interested in our electricity."

Hermione giggled. "Yes he did. Ron told me he's fascinated with muggles and their technology."

"Well you probably shouldn't keep your friends waiting. Be sure to write to us and have a good rest of the summer."

Hermione gave her a hug goodbye. "I'll write to you every week. I'm sure Harry will let me use his owl to send them."

Once they had broken apart Hermione collected her things and grabbed a small handful of floo powder. Mr. Weasley had been kind enough to connect their fireplace to the floo network. She threw the powder into the fire and said "The Burrow". She felt the now familiar but still odd sensation of traveling through the fireplace and then a few seconds later came out of the fireplace in the Burrow.

She looked around fascinated. She had never been inside a wizard family's house before. A broom swept the floor by itself and she could see a spoon stirring a pot of some sort of stew. She of course new a lot of household spells from a few books she had read on them and couldn't wait until she was old enough to start using them in her own house.

Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen and saw Hermione standing by the fireplace. "Oh hello Hermione! I didn't hear you floo in. Harry and Ron are outside tossing around a quaffle I believe if you want to go find them. You can just leave your things here and I'll bring them up to your room. You'll be staying in Ginny's room if that's fine with you."

Hermione nodded and smiled. "That sounds fine by me, it'll be nice to meet Ginny! Thanks again for letting me stay with you for the rest of the summer."

"It's quite alright dear, Ron and Harry have been excited for you to get here."

"Well if it isn't Hermione Granger, smartest witch at Hogwarts." Fred said as he and George came down the stairs.

"That she is Fred, I'm sorry to say that we don't have any library of sorts here at the Burrow." George added.

Hermione giggled. "I'm sure I'll be fine, I brought a few books of my own. I think I'll go find Harry and Ron now."

* * *

Harry and Ron were tossing an old, used quaffle back and forth when they noticed a familiar bushy haired witch come out from the Burrow.

"Hermione!" Ron said excitedly and quickly landed his broom.

Harry sighed as the quaffle he had just passed flew through the empty space that Ron had been occupying. He went and retrieved it before walking over to Ron and Hermione.

"Hey Hermione, How has your summer been?"

"It's been pretty good Harry. It's been nice seeing my parents again. How about you two?"

"It's been great! It's nice not having to worry about homework and people like Snape and Malfoy." Ron replied.

"Ya it's been ok." Harry added.

"Where's Ginny? I figured she would be with you two. Didn't you say you two were really good friends Harry?" Hermione asked looking around.

"She's probably in her room. We, er, haven't really been talking much this summer."

"Why not?"

Harry shrugged.

Hermione decided to drop it for the time being, but she planned to figure out just what was going on between Ginny and Harry.

* * *

Hermione didn't see Ginny until dinner that night. They were all sitting at the table for dinner when she came down the stairs and sat down on the opposite side of the table from Harry. Hermione thought she heard Harry sigh unhappily but when she looked at him he didn't show any sign that he had even noticed Ginny.

Wanting to break the awkward silence that had just been formed Hermione turned to Ginny. "Hi Ginny, it' s good to see you again! Mrs. Weasley told me that we're going to be roommates."

Ginny nodded and smiled. "It's good to see you again also Hermione. And ya mum brought all your stuff into my room a little bit ago. We set up another bed for you to sleep in."

"Well I can't wait to get to know you better."

"Ya me too." Ginny replied happily.

After that the meal went by normally. When they were finished Ginny went back up to her room. Ron challenged Harry to a few games of chess before they went to sleep. Hermione stayed up to watch them for a bit before deciding to go to sleep.

She headed up the stairs and opened the door to Ginny's room. She saw that Ginny was still up and decided that now was as good a time as ever to start befriending the younger redhead.

"Hey Ginny", she said as she climbed into her bed.

"Oh hey Hermione." Ginny replied as she put down the diary that she was writing in.

"So you're going to be starting school with us this year?"

Ginny nodded her head.

"I bet your excited, Hogwarts is a great place."

"That's what everyone says, I'm just worried that I won't make any friends."

"I was worried about the same thing. Both my parents are muggles so I thought that I wouldn't be able to make any friends because I didn't know hardly anything about the wizarding world."

"Ya but you're best friends with Harry and Ron now. So I guess you worried for nothing." Ginny replied somewhat dejectedly.

Hermione looked at Ginny for a few seconds thinking of what to say next. She was starting to realize what the problem was.

"You know, when I first met Harry I wasn't sure if we would ever be good friends. First off, he already had Ron as his best mate. But also he was constantly writing to and talking about a certain redheaded witch."

Ginny blushed slightly. "Ya me and Harry used to be pretty good friends."

"From the way Harry acted and from what Ron has told me, I would say that you two were more than just good friends."

Ginny looked at her. "What has Ron told you?"

Hermione smirked. "Oh not much, just that he had never seen anyone as close as you and Harry in his life. He said you've been close since the first day Harry moved into the Burrow."

"Ok ya we used to be best friends, but now we barely talk." Ginny replied looking down.

Hermione looked at her sadly. "You know he misses you as much as you miss him. At the end of our first year he was still talking about you to me. He misses how close you used to be."

Ginny's eyes brightened. "Really? He misses me?"

"A lot." Hermione replied.

"Well what should I do? I'm worried we won't ever be as close as we were."

"Start talking to him again. And hang out with us. We won't bite, I promise! I'd say by the end of the summer you two will be as close as ever."

"Alright, thanks Hermione. I needed to here that."

"No problem Ginny, it'll be nice to have another girl in our group."

* * *

A few hours later on that same night Harry woke up to the sound of rustling outside of his window. He quickly got out of bed and opened it to see Hedwig struggling with a creature that he recognized as a house elf. The elf appeared to be trying to take a letter off of Hedwig's leg, but Hedwig was putting up a fight.

Harry quickly reached forward and grabbed the housefly by the rags it was wearing and pulled it off of Hedwig. The elf stood quivering in front of Harry with large, pitiful eyes.

"Well I bet I'd be right in assuming that you're the one who's been taking my mail." Harry said.

The elf silently nodded, still quivering.

"Why did you do it? Did your masters send you to do it?"

The elf shook it's head. "No masters did not tell Dobby to do it. Dobby did it without telling masters. Dobby has been a bad elf." After saying this Dobby starting banging his head against one of the legs on Harry's bed.

Harry quickly grabbed him. "What are you doing?"

"Dobby is punishing himself. Dobby is a bad house elf."

"Don't punish yourself. Just tell me, if your masters didn't tell you to take my mail, then why did you do it?

"Harry Potter is a great wizard. You stopped the Dark Lord when you were just a baby. All house elves are grateful to Harry Potter and Dobby was just trying to protect you."

"How is stealing my mail protecting me Dobby?"

"There is a plot, a terrible plot that would put Harry Potter in great danger. Dobby was hoping that if Harry didn't receive mail from his friends, he wouldn't return." Dobby pulled out a stack of letters from his rags as he said this.

Harry grabbed for them. "Give me those, they're mine."

"Harry Potter must promise to never return to Hogwarts."

"I'm going bak to Hogwarts Dobby. Now what is this great danger you talked about."

Dobby's eyes went wide and he covered his mouth. "Dobby cannot say."

While Dobby was distracted Harry managed to grab his letters. "Listen Dobby, I'm going back to Hogwarts. Nothing will change that. Now please stop intercepting my mail."

"Harry Potter is making a grave mistake." Dobby said before snapping his fingers and disappearing.

"Harry what was all that noise? Is everything ok?" Ron asked from outside his door.

Harry put all his mail on his desk to read later and opened the door. "I'm fine. I just discovered who's been taking my mail."

That morning Harry told Mr. Weasley what had happened.

"So you're saying a house elf named Dobby is the one who's been taking all your mail?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Ya, I caught him trying to take a letter off of Hedwig's leg. I grabbed him and asked him why he was doing it. He told me that there was going to be a great danger at Hogwarts and that he was trying to keep me from going."

Mr. Weasley sat in thought for a few minutes. "This sounds just like a prank Probably just someone trying to scare you into not going to Hogwarts. Do you know anybody rich enough to own a house elf who would do this?"

"Malfoy" Harry, Ron, and Hermione all said at the same time.

"Yes that does sound like something Lucius' son would do. Now that you caught Dobby though, hopefully he'll leave you alone.

"Ya hopefully." Harry replied.

* * *

Later that day Harry and Ron came down the stairs from their rooms wearing swim trunks.

"Hey Hermione, we want to show you our pond, did you bring a swimsuit like we told you to?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded. "I did, just give me a few minutes to change. Have you already told Ginny or should I ask her?"

"Er… No we haven't told her yet. You can I invite her I guess." Harry replied.

Hermione hurried up the stairs and opened the door to Ginny's room. Ginny was laying on her bed reading a book. She looked up when Hermione walked in. "Hi Hermione, what's up?"

"Harry, Ron, and I are going down to the pond. You should come with us." Hermione answered as she pulled out her blue one-piece swimsuit.

"Did they ask me to come along?"

"Well… I may have suggested it. But if you want to start repairing your friendship with Harry then now is as good a time as ever." Hermione replied.

"Alright I'll come along then. Give me a second."

While the girls were changing, Harry and Ron decided to play a quick game of chess in the living room.

"Why do you suppose Hermione was so eager to bring Ginny? They barely even know each other." Ron asked as his knight knocked one of Harry's pawns off the board.

"I'm not sure. It can't hurt to have her along though. We really should have thought to invite her." Harry replied.

"Ya I guess… but she's not really part of our group."

"That doesn't mean she can't join us. We haven't really spent much time with her this summer and I think we should try to change that."

"I guess you right. Checkmate."

Harry groaned as Ron's queen took his king. It had been one of his quickest games against Ron yet.

"I don't know why you even bother anymore Harry, you know he's just going to beat you." Ginny giggled as she and Hermione came down the stairs.

Harry shrugged. "I figure eventually I might get lucky."

Ron snorted. "Ya good luck with that mate. Now if you two are ready, then let's get going."

The four headed out of the house and down the path. The pond was just a little ways past their makeshift quidditch field hidden behind some trees. When the got there, Ginny and Hermione laid out their towels as Harry and Ron jumped in. They spent the rest of the day at the pond just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent the majority of the time telling Ginny about all of their adventures. Harry had told her about most of them through his letters, but only the major events. She enjoyed hearing all of the minor details that Harry had left out of his letters. Most of all she just enjoyed spending time with the three. She could see why Harry and Ron liked Hermione so much. If you got past her bossy side she was fun, caring, and really funny.

That night Ginny gave Hermione a hug before they went to bed. "Thank you Hermione."

Hermione looked confused for a second. "For what?"

"I know that it was you who asked Ron and Harry if I could come along. I really enjoyed myself."

Hermione smiled. "No problem Ginny, I'll make sure that you're included for now on."

The rest of the summer went by quickly. Hermione made sure that Ginny was always with the group. She only had to remind Ron and Harry one other time. After that Harry personally went to her room and told her what they were doing. Hermione also tried to get Harry and Ron to finish their summer assignments which the refused to do. "We have all summer to do it." Ron would always say.

Finally the day came for them to go to Diagon Ally to get their school supplies. They picked a day that Mr. Weasley didn't have to go in for work and all gathered in the kitchen in the morning after breakfast.

"So are you all ready to go? You all need to get your books and Ginny needs all her first year supplies." They all nodded and one by one went through the fireplace.

"Let's get our books first and then you all can split up and get the rest of the things you'll need." Mr. Weasley said leading the way.

They all headed over to Flourish and Blotts, but when they got there they noticed a long line.

"I wonder why there's such a long line…" Suddenly Hermione squeaked. "Ohh Gilderoy Lockhart is here. Maybe I can get him to sign my books." She rushed in and everyone followed her in.

* * *

A little it later a very disgruntled Weasley left the shop led by Hagrid. Mrs. Weasley was reprimanding Mr. Weasley for fighting in front of the kids while Fred and George were giving a play-by-play recount of the fight between Mr. Weasley and Lucius Malfoy.

"I can't believe that idiot is going to be our defense professor." Ron complained.

"He's not an idiot Ron, if you read his books you'll find that he did a lot of brave things."

Ron snorted. "I think you just fancy him."

Hermione went slightly pink. "D-Don't be ridiculous Ron I don't fancy him! What do you think Harry."

Harry smirked. "I don't know Hermione I do think you kinda fancy him."

Ginny giggled and Hermione sighed. "Not about that. What do you think about him being our professor?"

Harry shrugged. "Anyone who doesn't have Voldemort on the back of their head is fine by me."

Everyone flinched when he said Voldemort, but laughed afterwards.

"Alright everyone can split up now and get the rest of your supplies. Your father and I will save everyone a table at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. Mrs. Weasley said.

"Come on Harry, Let's go to the Quidditch Supplies Shop!" Ron said excitedly.

"You and Hermione go ahead. I'll meet you there." he replied while walking over to Ginny. "Hey Ginny, follow me. I've got a surprise for you."

"What is it Harry?" She asked eagerly as she followed him.

"You'll find out, just follow me."

Harry led Ginny through Diagon Ally and stopped in front of Ollivander's Shop.

"Harry, I don't need a wand, mum's giving me my grandma's old one."

"Professor Flitwick told us that using someone else's wand wasn't as effective as using your own. I think Ron could have done much better in class last year if he wasn't using a the used wand he has now. Consider this your birthday present from me." Harry replied.

"Oh alright." Ginny said as she followed Harry into the shop.

Mr. Ollivander looked up as they entered the shop. "Ah hello again Harry Potter, how has your wand been suiting you?"

"It's worked perfectly for me sir." Harry replied. "We're here today to get Ginny a wand."

"Of course, if you would follow me Ginny, we'll get started."

After trying out dozens of wands Ginny finally picked up one that caused a warmth to spread throughout her body.

"9 inches, maple, with a unicorn hair. A crafty wand for a crafty witch." Ollivander said as he put the wand in a box.

Harry handed him a stack of galleons.

"I have to say it again, with each year you two remind me more of your parents Harry."

Harry had a brief flashback to the older image of Ginny and him in the mirror. "Er.. Thank you sir." He replied before leaving the shop. He once again missed Ginny's blush.

As soon as they left the shop Ginny gave him a hug. "Oh thank you Harry. I can't believe I have my own wand!"

Harry laughed. "No problem Gin, I knew you would need one."

"Well I'm done with my shopping, do you want to go to the leaky cauldron with me?"

"I told Ron that I would meet him at the Quidditch Shop."

"Oh, alright then." Ginny said slightly dejectedly.

"You're coming with me right? I'm sure Hermione will want to see your new wand."

Ginny perked up immediately. "Alright!" She said.

* * *

Late that night when everyone was asleep Harry woke up suddenly. He had just had another nightmare. He had been having them off and on ever since he had faced Voldemort. In this one he had woken up in the hospital wing, but instead of seeing Ginny, Professor Quirrell was standing over him holding the sorcerers stone. Harry had woken up as soon as Quirrell had started laughing maniacally. He knew from experience that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep so he headed downstairs.

The Weasleys were getting used to Harry getting up in the early hours of the morning every once and awhile. They knew to just ignore it if they heard the stairs creaking. That night however, Ginny was waiting.

When she heard the stairs creak she got out of bed, put on her robe, crept past Hermione, and silently stepped out of her room. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she saw Harry curled up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate. He didn't notice her until she had sat down next to him. He jumped slightly but relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Oh hey Ginny. Sorry I didn't notice you."

Ginny giggled. "Sorry for startling you. Who did you think I was?"

"I was worried you were mum, I know she's been wanting to talk to me about what happened ever since I got back this summer."

"She's just worried about you Harry, we all are. I nearly had a heart attack when Hedwig gave me your message that night."

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to make sure someone knew where we were just in case things went poorly. I nearly didn't send it since you didn't respond to my previous letter."

Ginny looked at him. "You do know why I didn't respond, right?"

Harry shook his head causing Ginny to sigh. "I didn't think it mattered. You had already stopped sending me letters, except to tell me about you, Ron, and Hermione's great adventures. I figured you didn't need me anymore."

"Ginny I'll always need you. Ron and Hermione are great, but they don't understand me like you do. I'm sorry that I stopped writing to you. I guess I just got distracted with the whole Sorcerers Stone thing. I won't ever let you feel like you've been replaced again. I promise."

Ginny smiled and gave him a hug. "Thank-you Harry. I'm glad that we can let things go back to the way they used to be between us. I've missed my best friend."

Harry hugged her back. "Me too."

Hermione smiled from the staircase. She was glad that she had been able to help the two make-up. They were obviously extremely close. After all, she had never seen Harry hug anyone else besides Mrs. Weasley.

* * *

On the last night of the summer Ginny was in her tree again writing in her diary. Now that she was spending most of her time with Harry, Ron, and Hermione she didn't write in it very often, but she still tried to find the time to do it every once and awhile. That night she realized that she had used the last page in the book. She sighed in frustration. It was just her luck that she would run out of room in her diary the night before school started. She wouldn't have time to get a new one before she left for Hogwarts.

Suddenly she remembered something. The book from Diagon Ally! She quickly climbed from the tree to her window and went to her trunk. She pulled out the book. It was completely blank and had the initials T.M.R on figured her dad must have known that she was keeping a diary and decided to get her a new one.

After grabbing some more inks climbed out of her window and back onto her favorite tree. She opened the book and wrote on the top. "My name is Ginny Weasley."

She gasped as it disappeared and nearly out of the tree when it replied. "Hell Ginny, my name is Tom Riddle, how did you come across my Diary?"

Ginny gasped. "A diary that can talk back? Interesting…"


	6. Chapter 6: The Barrier

**Chapter 6: The Barrier**

 **A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I've gotten pretty busy with college life and haven't had much time to sit down and work on this.**

 **I've decided to answer any questions that I get at the beginning of each chapter.**

 **Q: How many chapters is each story going to be?**

 **A: I'm not really sure. I've got the first story outlined out, but I really don't know how many chapters it will encompass.**

 **This chapter covers the train ride to Hogwarts as well as their first day of classes. It jumps back and forth between Harry and Ginny's viewpoint so I pointed out when the P.O.V changes.**

 **Once again thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed so far! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

 ***None of the characters in this story belong to me. They are the property of J.K Rowling. Any recognizable sections of this chapter are from _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_ Chapter 6***

(Harry's P.O.V)

On the day of September 1, the whole Weasley family and Hermione gathered in front of their car. For once they were all on time and no one had forgotten anything. The previous night Hermione and Percy had gone around making sure everyone was packed and hadn't forgotten anything. Ginny had told Hermione the Weasley tradition of always barely making it to the train on time and Hermione was determined to break that tradition.

They put all of their luggage and pets into the magically expanded trunk, which Mrs. Weasley gave a slightly distasteful look.

Ginny's cat, Midnight, was the only pet not in the trunk. Ginny had insisted that she hold her

"I've always loved your cat Ginny, how old is she?" Hermione asked as she stroked Midnight's fur causing the cat to purr deeply.

"She's a little over a year old, Harry gave her to me as a birthday present last year."

"Aw how sweet of him, I've always wanted a cat. Maybe I'll get one next year.

They arrived at the station and piled out of the car with plenty of time to spare. The station was as busy as it had always been so it took them a few minutes to make their way to the barrier through the crowds. When they got there Mrs. Weasley decided that they would all go through the barrier in waited for there to be a lull in the muggle crowds and then the twins passed through the barrier first. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were next followed by Percy, who insisted that he go by himself. Once Percy was through Ron and Hermione headed towards the barrier and a few seconds later Harry and Ginny were the only ones left.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"First one through wins!" Ginny said before dashing off.

Harry grinned and ran after her. They both closed there eyes as they got close to the barrier and…

*Crash!*

They smashed into the wall and their carts fell over. They groaned and got up to see everyone staring at them.

"Hey! What's wrong with you two?" One of the employees asked

"Er… Sorry. We lost control of our carts." Harry said as they quickly gathered their things and tried to calm down a very annoyed Hedwig.

"What's going on? Why can't we get through the barrier?" Harry asked as he pressed his hands against it.

Ginny noticed that they were still getting a lot of stares from muggles. "Harry, maybe we should just go back to the car and wait for mum and dad."

Harry's eyes suddenly widened. "That's it Ginny! The car!"

Ginny stared at him blankly. "What about the car?"

"We could fly it to Hogwarts."

Ginny's eyes widened at the thought and she shook her head. "Oh no we're not. I'm not flying that piece of junk all the way to Hogwarts. Even if we don't crash on the way there we'll still be seen."

"No we won't. It can turn invisible, remember?"

Ginny shook her head again. "The invisibility is faulty. We're just going to stand by the car and wait."

Harry sighed but decided to listen to her. They drug there luggage through the crowds and back to the car. A few muggles looked at them strangely, but Harry just assumed it was because of Hedwig, who was still acting very irritated from crashing into the barrier.

* * *

"What is taking those two?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she looked anxiously at the clock. "It's been over 5 minutes since Ron and Hermione came through. If they don't hurry up they'll be late for the train."

"Mum, tell Harry and Ginny that we already went into the train to find a compartment." Ron said. He was tired of waiting and knew that pretty soon it would be hard to an empty compartment.

"Alright dear, you two have a good school year." Mrs. Weasley replied as she gave both Ron and Hermione a hug.

"I think we should go back and look for them, maybe one of them forgot something." Mr. Weasley said as he led her back to the barrier.

They passed through the barrier and started looking around. Harry and Ginny weren't anywhere nearby. They frantically started making their way through the crowds until they had made it back to the car where they found Harry and Ginny patiently waiting.

"Harry and Ginny, what are you still doing out here?" Mrs. Weasley asked frantically.

"We couldn't get through the barrier Mum. We just crashed into it."

"Well thanks for just waiting by the car. If it had been Ron or the twins I could see them doing something stupid. Like flying the car all the way to Hogwarts or something!" Mr. Weasley laughed.

Ginny smirked and gave Harry a nudge which he chose to ignore.

"Well how about you guys try the barrier again. If that doesn't work we'll just apparate to Hogshead and go to Dumbledore."

Harry and Ginny nodded and followed them to the barrier. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny went first. Harry cringed as they approached it expecting them to bounce off of the brick. Instead they passed through to the other side.

"Well it looks like it worked for them. Now it's our turn." Mr. Weasley said.

They both started walking toward the barrier. Harry closed his eyes as they came closer expecting to hear the crash of his cart at any second.

"You can open them Harry, we made it through."

He opened his eyes to see the familiar Hogwarts Express billowing out steam.

"Alright you had better get on the train, it will be leaving soon. I'll send a message to Dumbledore and tell him about the barrier. Maybe he can figure out what happened."

"Alright, thanks for the help." Harry replied before hurrying onto the train.

He started walking past the compartments until he reached the back of the train where he found Ginny sitting with Ron and Hermione.

"So the barrier wouldn't open for you and Ginny?" Hermione asked as he sat down next to Ginny.

He shook his head.

"We ended up waiting by the car for Mum and Dad." Ginny added.

"You guys could have just flown to Hogwarts in the car. That would have been wicked!" Ron said causing Ginny to roll her eyes

"Harry suggested the same thing. I'm glad I was with him to talk some sense into him and not you Ron." Ginny replied.

Hermione nodded in agreement. "Ginny's right. You two would've gotten into serious trouble."

"I wonder who did that to the barrier. I'm guessing it would have had to take some pretty advanced magic to do it. That rules out it being a student." Harry said wanting to change the subject.

They spent the rest of the trip contemplating who could've shut the barrier. Their ideas ranged from Malfoy to Voldemort, to it being a freak accident. In the end none of them were able to come up with an idea that made sense.

* * *

(Ginny's P.O.V)

Ginny was startled awake by the loud whistling of the train announcing their arrival at Hogwarts. She blushed when she noticed that she had fallen asleep with her head on Harry's shoulder. Harry had fallen asleep as well so he didn't seem to notice. Hermione however was giving her a knowing look. Ginny stuck her tongue out at her which only caused her to giggle slightly.

As they were making their way through the train Hermione leaned over and mumbled to Ginny, "You and Harry looked pretty comfortable sleeping next each other."

Ginny blushed again but quickly retorted, "I noticed you and Ron were pretty close also. Anything going on there Hermione?"

Ginny grinned when Hermione just stood there opening and closing her mouth.

As the four friends came out Harry turned to Ginny and said, "First years go to the castle by boat and then are sorted. So we'll see you at the Gryffindor table!"

Ginny nodded. She wasn't quite as worried about being sorted into Gryffindor as Harry had been, but she was still a bit nervous.

She jumped slightly when she heard Hagrid's booming voice behind her, "Hello you four, How're you doing?"

"We're doing good Hagrid. We'll just leave Ginny her with you and head over to the carriages Harry responded.

Ginny gave Harry a quick nervous hug and turned to follow Hagrid along with the other first years.

"Excited for yer first year eh Ginny?" Hagrid asked.

Ginny nodded her head and replied. "Yeah I am. I'm just nervous. What if I'm not sorted into Gryffindor like the rest of my family and friends?"

Hagrid patted Ginny on the shoulder causing her knees to buckle. "Don't you worry Ginny. There hasn't been a Weasley yet to not be sorted into Gryffindor. I doubt you'll be any different."

Ginny smiled feeling somewhat reassured. When they reached the lake she got into a boat with a girl that she had recognized as Luna Lovegood. She had come over to visit the Burrow a few times when they were younger. Just as she had sat down and greeted Luna, a small, mousey-haired boy with glasses joined them. He seemed very excited and introduced himself as soon as he got into the boat.

"Hello! My name is Colin Creevey! I'm a muggleborn."

Trying to suppress a giggle at the boy's energy, Ginny shook his hand and replied, "Hello Colin. My name is Ginny Weasley."

"And my name is Luna Lovegood." Luna added dreamily as she shook Colin's other hand at the same time.

Seemingly unfazed by Luna's oddness, Colin continued talking. "Nice to meet you Luna and Ginny. Did you say your last name was Weasley Ginny? I heard rumors that Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Live, is living with you. Is it true? Do you think you could introduce me?"

Ginny frowned slightly. She knew Harry hated his publicity and probably wouldn't appreciate anyone fawning over him. On the other hand, she doubted it would do much harm introducing him to Colin.

"Er… ya he's living with me. My family adopted him a few years ago. I guess I could probably introduce you to him."

"Wicked!" Colin responded.

A few minutes later, the boats left the docks and headed towards Hogwarts. Ginny gazed up at the castle. Harry had been right, words truly couldn't describe the beauty of the giant castle. They reached the other side of the lake and Hagrid led them all to the entrance where they found Professor McGonagall waiting for them.

She lined them all up alphabetically and explained to them how they would be sorted and how the house points worked.

Finally the time came for all of them to enter the Great Hall. They nervously walked in and stood in the middle of all the students right in front of the sorting hat. Ginny looked over at the Gryffindor table and spotted Harry. He gave her a thumbs up and indicated an open spot next to him that he was saving for her. She gave him a nervous smile right as the Sorting Hat burst into song.

When the song was over and everyone had given the hat a round of applause, Professor McGonagall began calling out their names. Colin was one of the first to be sorted. He was so excited that he tripped as he ran up to the hat, but he didn't seem to notice everyone's laughter. He sat on the stool and put on the hat, which fell down over his eyes. About a minute later the hat shouted loudly.

"Gryffindor!"

Everyone laughed again as he once again tripped on his way to the applauding Gryffindor table. She saw him take the spot that Harry had been saving for her despite his obvious protests. She giggled when she saw him immediately begin talking to Harry who turned to Ginny and rolled his eyes.

A few students later it was Luna Lovegood's turn. She happily skipped up to the hat causing a few Slytherins to snicker. A few seconds after she put on the hat it shouted.

"Ravenclaw!"

Ginny sighed, slightly disappointed. She had been hoping to rekindle her friendship with Luna, which would be hard to do if they weren't in the same house.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, it was Ginny's turn.

"Professor McGonagall called out, "Weasley, Ginny"

She nervously walked up to the hat and put it on after sitting down. As soon as she put it on she heard it's voice in her head.

"Ah, I see it's finally time to sort the last of the Weasley children. Fortunately that makes my decision very easy. Bravery and loyalty runs in your family after all. Plus I wouldn't want to separate you from Harry Potter! I can see you two have a very special… bond. So it'd better be… Gryffindor!"

She took the hat off and happily headed over to the applauding Gryffindor table. She took a seat next to Hermione on the opposite side of Harry, who was steadily looking more and more annoyed as Colin continued to talk to him. he mouthed "Help me." to her causing her to giggle before turning to watch the last of her year mates get sorted.

Dumbledore stood up and addressed the crowd of students. "Well, now that everyone has been sorted I only have two words to say before we start the feast: Tuck in!"

The golden platters and goblets in front of everyone suddenly filled with food and pumpkin juice and everyone began eating.

"Congrats on being sorted into Gryffindor Ginny. I could tell you were nervous." Hermione said.

"Thanks Hermione!" She responded.

Taking advantage of the momentary pause in Colin's chatter, caused by him taking a bite of his food, Harry added, "See? I told you that you had nothing to worry about."

"Funny, I seem to recall saying the same thing to someone last year who had been much more nervous than I was." Ginny responded with a smirk.

"You were nervous about being sorted Harry? I would've thought you would be certain of being put into Gryffindor…" Colin said, once again starting his non-stoptalking.

Eventually the plates cleared and were replaced by dessert. Ginny took a bit of everything agreeing with Harry that the Treacle Tart was especially good.

Finally, when everyone had eaten their fill, the plates cleared. Dumbledore stood up again and gave his start-of-the-year announcements and then told the prefects to to show the first-years to their dorms.

Percy stood up importantly. "Alright first years if you would follow me, I'll show you how to get to Gryffindor Tower."

She did her best to pay attention as Percy guided them though the castle. She remembered Harry telling her that it took him and Ron awhile to figure out where everything in the castle was and she didn't fancy getting lost on her first day of classes.

They finally reached the seventh floor and Percy had them stand in front of a portrait of a fat lady.

"This is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. You will need to know the password to enter, and you cannot tell it to anyone that isn't in Gryffindor. The current password is wattlebird."

The portrait swung open as he said this and he led them through the passageway behind it. The common room was just as Harry had described it. Plump chairs and couches littered the room and there was a roaring fireplace. Percy showed them the two separate staircases that led to the boys and girls dormitories.

Suddenly feeling very tired, Ginny decided to head up to her new room. She found that her trunk was already there waiting for her in front of her new bed. Midnight was also there curled up on her pillow. She opened her trunk, pulled out Tom's diary, and sat on her bed with Midnight purring on her lap.

She opened the diary and thought for a few seconds before writing, "Hey Tom, I'm writing to you from my new bed in Gryffindor Tower."

A second later Tom responded, "So you were sorted into Gryffindor? A fine house. I myself was in Slytherin, a vastly misunderstood house."

Ginny frowned and wrote back, "You were in Slytherin? My brothers and Harry warned me to stay away from Slytherins. They said that more dark wizards have come out of Slytherin than all the other houses combined."

"Yes, unfortunately this is true. I can assure you though that a lot of us aren't that bad. I myself was Head Boy during my seventh year so you can trust me." Tom responded.

She smiled. "I trust you Tom, you're too nice to be a dark wizard. Now I'm pretty tired after today so I'm going to go to bed. I'll write to you soon."

"Goodnight Ginny. I look forward to our next chat."

She closed the diary and put it back at the bottom of her trunk. For whatever reason she felt the need to keep the diary a secret. She then closed the curtains and curled up in her bed. It had been a long day so she quickly fell asleep looking forward to her first day of classes.

* * *

(Harry's P.O.V)

The next day Harry sat at the Gryffindor table working his way through a plate full of eggs and toast. Ron was shoveling food into his mouth at an alarming rate and Hermione had her copy of _Voyages with Vampires_ propped open against a milk jug. He looked up in panic when someone sat down next to him, thinking that it was Colin. He sighed with relief when he saw that it was Ginny.

"A bit jumpy today Harry?" Ginny giggled.

"Sorry, I thought you were Colin. That kid is relentless." Harry responded.

"He's just excited to meet you. He's new to the wizarding world after all, and you are a celebrity of sorts."

"Hermione was new to the wizarding world last year, but she wasn't exactly fawning over me." Harry complained.

Ron snorted into his food. "I don't know about that mate. Remember when we first met her? "I know you of course, you're Harry Potter. I've read all about you!" he mimicked in his best Hermione voice, earning himself a slap on the back of the head from her.

"I was just telling him were I had heard of him. At least I wasn't going to my first day with dirt on my nose."

"And there we go…" Harry mumbled to Ginny as Ron spluttered.

Fortunately, before their argument could progress, Professor McGonagall came by passing out their timetables. When she handed Harry and Ginny theirs she added, "Dumbledore wants to see you two in his office before your first class. The password is acid pop. I would suggest you head up there now so that you're not late to your first class."

Harry and Ginny nodded and began to get up.

"Are you two in trouble or something?" Ron asked.

"It's probably about what happened at the barrier Ron." Hermione said.

"Well how was I supposed to know?"

Harry and Ginny hurried off as Ron and Hermione started bickering again.

"Wow, I don't remember them being this bad at the Burrow." Ginny said as they headed towards Dumbledore's office.

"Yeah, I think they were just taking a break over the summer. Now that classes have started again they seem to be making up for lost time." Harry added.

Ginny looked at her timetable. "So what class have you got first?"

Harry glanced at his, "Double Herbology with Hufflepuff. How about you?

"Double potions with Slytherin."

"Ouch. I'm sorry." He replied as he cringed.

"The Slytherins can't be that bad can they?" Ginny asked.

He shrugged. "The one's in my year are pretty bad, and they're only encouraged by Snape. Not a good combination."

"Oh… At least I have Charms with Ravenclaw afterwards. I'll get to see Luna!"

Harry nodded. "I'm sure you'll like Charms. Really all of the classes are fun except for Potions and History of Magic."

They soon reached the Gargoyle statue that guarded Dumbledore's office. Harry said the password and it moved aside revealing a staircase that they climbed up. When they reached the top they opened the door and saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk.

"Ah, hello Harry and Ginny. Have a seat." He said as he conjured two chairs for them which they sat down in.

"I suppose you're wondering why I had you summoned here." He said.

"Is it because of what happened at the barrier?" Harry asked.

"That is correct Mr. Potter. I am pleased that you were smart enough to wait for your parents instead of doing anything foolish."

"I am too professor." Ginny replied giving Harry a pointed look.

Dumbledore chuckled before continuing. "Anyway, as soon as your father informed me of what happened I myself went down there to check it out. I was surprised to find traces of house elf magic around the Barrier."

Both Harry and Ginny's eyes widened and they looked at each other.

"Did you say house elf professor?" Harry asked.

"I did indeed. You two seem to know something that I don't. Care explaining?"

"Over the first few weeks of the summer I wasn't receiving any mail, but Ron was. We came to the conclusion that someone was intercepting my mail, but couldn't figure out who it could be. Finally one night I heard a noise outside my window and when I opened it I found a house elf trying to take a letter off of Hedwig. It turned out his name was Dobby and he was trying to keep me from wanting to return to Hogwarts this year. He claimed that there was going to be a great danger. Dad said that it was probably just a prank." Harry recounted.

Dumbledore seemed to be deep in thought, but finally responded, "I would guess that it was this same house elf that closed the barrier. Mr. Weasley is probably correct in guessing that it is just a prank. I will, however, be keeping an eye out for this danger that it spoke of."

Both Harry and Ginny nodded.

Dumbledore glanced at his pocket watch. "Oh look at the time! I'm afraid you two will be a little late for your first classes. Just tell your professors you were with me."

"Alright, thank you for looking into this problem professor." Ginny said as they got up.

"You are most welcome Ginny. I hope you both have a good first day."

They left Dumbledore's office and began heading toward their classes. Right when they were about to split up however they ran into Professor Lockhart who seemed surprised, but excited to see them.

"Harry! Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Me and Ginny had a meeting with Dumbledore sir. It went a little late."

"Oh Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry." Lockhart said while putting a hand on his shoulder. "Getting in trouble already? I take full responsibility of course. Gave you a taste of fame and now your looking for more."

"Er… no it was just about…"

"Harry, Harry, _Harry_. Just calm down alright. When I was twelve, I was just as much as a nobody as you are now. In fact, I'd say I was even more of a nobody! I mean, a few people have heard of you, haven't they? All that business with You-Know-Who!"

He glanced at the lightning scar on Harry's forehead.

"I know, I know — it's not as good as winning Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award five times in a row as I have - but it's a start, Harry it's a start. Oh, and it's good to see you again, Jenny right? I look forward to seeing you in class."

Harry stood there for a few seconds before looking at Ginny to see she was grinning and blushing slightly.

"What are you blushing about?"

She jumped slightly and blushed even more. "Oh…er… nothing. He's just, very um handsome" she mumbled.

"You don't fancy him do you? He's got to be the world's biggest git." Harry said with exasperation.

"I-I'd better get to class, I'm already late. Talk to you later Harry." She replied before rushing off.

"Unbelievable." Harry muttered as he headed off to Herbology.

Unfortunately Harry wasn't able to tell Ron and Hermione about his meeting with Dumbledore and his encounter with Lockhart until Transfiguration because they were repotting mandrakes and had to wear earmuffs during Herbology.

"That is weird that the house elf tried to stop you from going to Hogwarts again." Hermione said as she transfigured yet another beetle into a button in Transfiguration.

"Yeah, I wonder what his deal is?" Ron added as he poked his beetle with his wand.

Harry and Ron had long given up on transfiguring their beetles and were now racing each other's across their desk.

Hermione looked at them disapprovingly before going on. "So you got to meet Professor Lockhart already Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah and he was a complete git. I'm not looking forward to our first class with him."

"Well, we have him this afternoon after lunch." Hermione said as she looked at her timetable.

"Why have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?" Ron demanded furiously.

Hermione quickly put the schedule away blushing furiously.

Harry groaned as Ron's beetle crossed the makeshift finish line first.

"Not you too Hermione. I'm pretty sure Ginny fancies Lockhart also. Even though he didn't even say her name right."

"I don't fancy him!" Hermione replied indignantly.

"Riiight." Both Harry and Ron said sarcastically.

* * *

That night at dinner Harry and Ron were still complaining about Lockhart.

"Can you believe him? He calls himself a defense professor, but he can't even deal with pixies." Ron said.

"He was probably just trying to see if we could handle it with his help Ron." Hermione said defending him, causing Harry to snort.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right Hermione. And did you hear him after he caught Colin asking me to take a photo and sign it? Thought I was giving out signed photos to increase my fame."

"He's not that bad guys." Ginny said.

"I'm sure you did just as good on his test as Hermione did, eh Ginny?" Ron asked.

This caused both Ginny and Hermione to blush furiously.

"Girls." muttered Ron to Harry, who felt inclined to agree.

* * *

(Ginny's P.O.V)

Ginny was in her bed writing to Tom when she heard her door open, She quickly shut the diary and looked up to see Hermione walk in.

She looked at the diary and grinned. "I thought I would find you up here. Still keeping a diary I see."

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, I enjoy it. You should try it sometime."

"Hm, maybe. So Harry and Ron both seem pretty upset about Professor Lockhart.

Ginny laughed. "Yeah they are! I would never admit it, but I kind of agree with them. He really doesn't seem to know what he is doing as a professor."

Suddenly Ginny grinned as she remembered something. "Ron told me about the hearts in your timetable."

Hermione blushed. "He did? I don't fancy him, I swear Ginny. I'm just trying to make, er, someone jealous."

Ginny laughed again. "I figured. Does this someone have red hair?

Hermione blushed even more but didn't say anything.

"It's ok Hermione. I know you fancy my brother."

Without answering her, Hermione asked, "What about you? Do you fancy Lockhart? Or are you just trying to make a certain dark-haired boy jealous?"

Now it was Ginny's turn to blush. "You caught me. It seems that we can't keep secrets from each other."

"Nor should we. I think we can help each other. I know Harry and Ron probably won't notice girls for awhile still, but when they're older…"

"We'll make sure it's us they notice and not someone like Lavender." Ginny finished for her shuddering.

Hermione nodded and then yawned. "Well, good talk Ginny, but I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."

Ginny yawned as well. "Goodnight Hermione."


	7. Chapter 7: Mudblood

Chapter 7: Mudblood

A/N: In this chapter Harry has his first Quidditch practice and has a run-in with Draco and Snape. I cut it a bit short because I hit what felt look a good ending to the chapter and I wanted to post something a bit more quickly for you guys.

I've been getting several comments from people concerned about Ginny's death in the prologue. I'm not going to give anything away, but I will give a better explanation of this story. It's going to get dark. It's not going to be for the weak of heart. The title of the story is Love's Curse, and it's going to go into detail about the curse part of the soul bond. I'd originally come up with the idea for this story when I was reading other soul bond fics and thought "what would happen if one of the people in a soul bond were to die and the other survived"

Now I know that the fact that Ginny dies is going to turn off a lot of people. I myself would hate to read a Harry/Ginny fic that ends with Ginny dying. But don't worry! During the second book of this story one of the subplots will be about Harry and Hermione's work on a "Magical Plot Device" that Harry hopes will allow him to be able to change quite a few things, Ginny's death in particular.

As usual, thanks for all of the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys!

(None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of J.K Rowling. Any recognizable sections of this chapter come from chapter 7 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

* * *

The rest of the first week of school seemed to go by very slowly for Harry. Between Colin Creevey and Professor Lockhart, he felt like he was constantly ducking behind statues and into empty classrooms in order to avoid them. On top of that, Ron and Hermione were now bickering a lot more often. Mostly about Lockhart. Ron still thought he was completely worthless and Hermione continued to defend him. Not wanting to be like Ron and Hermione, he and Ginny had decided to simply agree to disagree on the subject.

Now that the weekend had finally arrived Harry had been looking forward to sleeping in a bit on Saturday, but that wasn't meant to be. Early in the morning he was shaken awake by Oliver Wood for their first Quidditch practice.

He left a note for Ron telling him where he was, and groggily headed down into the common room. As he headed toward the exit he noticed a familiar redhead asleep on one of the chairs.

"Ginny?" he asked while gently shaking her.

She jumped awake with wide eyes, glancing around wildly. She relaxed when she saw Harry.

"Oh, good morning Harry. Up awfully early aren't you?" she said while yawning.

"Why were you sleeping down here Ginny?" Harry asked.

"I couldn't sleep last night so I came down here, and I guess I must have fallen asleep. You didn't answer my question by the way. What're you doing up so early?" Ginny responded.

He indicated his Quidditch robes and Nimbus 2000, "Quidditch practice. Oliver decided that we need to get an early start on the season. Want to come along? Or do you want to go back to sleep? That chair does look pretty comfortable." He added grinning.

Ginny punched him in the arm. "Git. Yes I'll come along. Just give me a minute to change quickly."

She got up and rushed up to her dorm. Harry sat down on a couch and waited patiently. He looked up when he heard when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He groaned when he saw that it was Colin, and not Ginny.

"Hey Harry! I thought I heard someone say your name! Look what Iv'e got. I just finished developing it."

Harry looked at the picture Colin had taken of him and Lockhart earlier that week. He was pleased to see that the picture version of himself was resisting being in the frame.

"Ooh what have you got there Colin?"

Harry turned to see Ginny coming down the stairs while putting her hair up in a ponytail. She walked over and Colin excitedly showed her the picture. She giggled when she saw it.

"You don't seem very eager to be in the picture Harry. Do you think I could keep this Colin?"

Colin nodded and happily gave it to Ginny, who pocketed it.

"Alright I really need to get to practice. You coming Ginny?" Harry asked.

She nodded and the two started heading toward the portrait.

Colin eagerly scrambled after them. "Wait for me! I've never seen a Quidditch practice before! Weren't you the youngest seeker in a century Harry? Are you very good?"

And that was how the rest of the trip down to the Quidditch field went. Colin didn't seem to have an end to his tirade of questions for Harry and Ginny. Harry sighed with relief when they finally reached the Quidditch field and he left the two to go to the lockers. He was relieved to be away from Colin, but felt vaguely sorry for Ginny as he heard Colin continue to chatter.

A few minutes later he was almost wishing that he was having to deal with Colin instead of trying to pay attention to Wood's new strategies. After well over an hour, they finally left the locker room and took to the air. He felt the cool, morning air whip past his face as he pushed his Nimbus forward. Nothing made him feel more free than when he was on a broomstick.

He was momentarily distracted by a rapid, clicking sound that was coming from the stands. He turned his broom around to see Colin sitting with Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, who had apparently arrived while they were listening to Wood. Colin was standing up and eagerly taking pictures of Harry.

"Who's that Harry? Why is he taking pictures of us?" Wood asked as Fred and George pulled up next to them.

"That there is Colin Creevey. The founder and sole member of the Harry Potter fan club." Fred explained

"Although I think our sister would be willing to join." George added while indicating Ginny, who was trying to get Colin to stop.

"Hey I asked Ginny to come along. She isn't following me around like Colin is." Harry said indignantly.

"Ah yes, I'd forgotten how inseparable you two were." Fred responded.

"Think there's anything there brother?" George asked seemingly deep in thought.

"You never know."

"They are awfully young."

"Too true brother, but in the future..."

"Enough! We seem to have bigger problems right now than Harry's love life." Wood exclaimed, indicating the Slytherin Quidditch team making it's way onto the field.

The Gryffindors landed in front of the Slytherins and the two groups stood facing each other.

"What are you doing her Flint? I booked the field for today." Wood said angrily.

Flint grinned evilly and pulled out a slip of paper. "I've got special permission from Snape. We need to train our new seeker."

"You've got a new seeker? Who is he?"

Flint stepped aside to reveal a very smug-looking Draco Malfoy.

"When Draco here made the team his father was kind enough to donate these new beauties to us." Flint added indicating their brooms.

For the first time Harry noticed the brand new Nimbus 2001 brooms the Slytherin team was holding. None of the Gryffindors new what to say and Draco was looking even more smug, if that was even possible.

Harry noticed Ron, Hermione, and Ginny coming onto the field.

"What's going on Harry? Why aren't you guys practicing?" Ginny asked when they reached them.

"And what is he doing here?" Ron added while pointing at Malfoy.

"I happen to be the new Slytherin seeker Weasley. And everyone is just admiring the brooms my father bought for the team."

Ron and Ginny stared at the brooms with their mouths gaping, but Hermione just stood there with a slight smirk on her face.

"You really had to buy your way onto the team Draco? At least all of the Gryffindors got on the team on pure talent."

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." Draco spat back at her.

There was an immediate uproar. Flint had to dive in front of Draco to stop Fred and George from getting to him. Katie, Alicia, Angelina, and Ginny were screaming insults at him. Both Harry and Ron had gone for their wands, but Ron got to his first. There was a loud *bang* and a jet of green light hit Malfoy in the stomach.

The Slytherins backed off of Malfoy, who opened his mouth and gave a belch, causing several slugs to pour out of his mouth.

"20 points from Gryffindor, and detention Weasley."

Everyone turned to see Professor Snape coming onto the field.

"I thought there would be trouble caused Gryffindor, so I came over to check. It would appear that I was right."

"But Professor, Malfoy called Hermione a Mu..." Harry tried to say, but Snape cut him off.

"I don't care what Draco said, he didn't curse anyone, did he? I see you have your wand out as well Potter. I think you shall serve detention tonight as well.

He turned and headed back to the castle. The Slytherins followed, taking Malfoy, who left a trail of slugs behind them as they went.

"Git." Ron muttered.

Wood sighed. "Well I think that pretty much killed the mood for Quidditch. Everyone can go back to the castle, but but be ready to work extra hard next practice.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had been planning on visiting Hagrid that day so they started heading over to his hut. Harry noticed Colin rushing down the stadium stairs and turned to the others.

"Quickly! Follow me!"

He led them to the locker rooms and they quickly ducked inside. Harry could hear Colin calling his name, but fortunately he didn't check the locker rooms. After a few minutes they couldn't hear Colin anymore so they crept out and looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. Harry sighed with relief and led them to Hagrid's.

* * *

A few minutes later they arrived at Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door. They could here Fang scrambling at the door and Hagrid struggling to move him aside so that he could open it.

"Hello you four. I was wondrin when you would visit me."He said when he finally got the door open.

He led them inside and they all took a seat around his table. Fang seemed to take a liking to Ginny and put his head in her lap. She giggled and started scratching his ears. Hagrid happily gave them tea, which they took, and a plate of treacle fudge, which everyone but Harry ignored.

"You lot seem pretty subdued. Did somethen happen?" Hagrid asked, noticing their melancholy.

"There was an, er..., incident at the Quidditch field with Malfoy." Harry replied after unsticking his teeth. The fudge had cemented them together momentarily.

"He called Hermione a Mudblood!" Ron added in outrage.

Hagrid's eyes widened. "He didn't."

Hermione seemed to be getting more and more frustrated. "But what does it mean? And was it really worth cursing Draco and getting detention Ron?"

"Hermione, Mudblood is a rotten term used to describe Muggleborns. Some Pureblood families, like the Malfoys, believe that wizards should keep their blood pure. They think that that Muggleborns somehow stole their magic from wizards." Ginny explained.

"But I didn't steal..."

Harry cut her off. "We know Hermione. Very few wizards actually believe this anymore. Mostly just families like the Malfoys."

"And yes, it was worth cursing Malfoy for. I'd do it again in a second, even if I knew Snape would see." Ron added.

Hermione quickly got up and gave Ron a hug, causing his face to flush a deep red. Harry and Ginny snickered and Hagrid gave them a knowing look.

"So Snape saw you do it." Hagrid asked.

"Yeah." Ron replied, pointedly ignoring Harry and Ginny's snickers. "And he gave me and Harry detention tonight. Harry didn't even do anything, he just had his wand out!"

"Well have you ever known Snape to pass up the opportunity to punish me unfairly?" Harry muttered.

"I be you'll have detention with Professor Lockhart, Harry." He'll probably jump at the chance ter be alone with ya for a few hours." Hagrid said.

"What makes you say that Hagrid?" Hermione asked.

"He was down here just a little bit ago. Seemed to want to mostly talk about Harry. I think I offended him when I said I didn't have any of his books." Hagrid replied chuckling.

* * *

They spent another hour enjoyably at Hagrid's before they decided to head back to the castle for lunch. As soon as they set foot in the entrance hall however, they heard Professor McGonagall calling out to them.

"There you are Potter and Weasley. No not you Ginny, I'm talking to your brother. Professor Snape asked me to inform you that your detentions will be served tonight at 8."

"What're we doing Professor?" Ron asked.

"You will be polishing the silver in the trophy with Mr. Filch." Said Professor McGonagall. "And no magic, Weasley - elbow grease."

Ron seemed to want to complain, but kept his mouth shut.

"And you, Potter, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail," Said Professor McGonagall.

Harry groaned. It seemed Hagrid had been right and Lockhart had jumped at the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with him."

"Hopefully this will teach you two to refrain from cursing other students. However, the rest of the Quidditch team informed me about the circumstances, so I think the two of you have also earned 20 points each. For defending a fellow Gryffindor." She gave them a rare smile before turning and walking off to the head table.

"Blimey. Who would've thought we'd get not rewarded and punished for attacking Draco." Ron said as they sat down to eat lunch.

"Hagrid was right Harry. Lockhart is probably looking forward to instructing you on how to properly respond to fan mail." Ginny added giggling.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I bet you're right. And I had better not find any fan mail from either of you two." he responded indicating Hermione and Ginny.

Hermione blushed and payed extra attention to her food, but Ginny just stuck out her tongue defiantly.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly and soon it was five minutes to 8. Ginny and Hermione waved to Harry and Ron as they trudged out of the common room.

"So is there anything in particular that you want to do while they're gone Hermione?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shrugged, "Not really. I've got a potions essay that i need to finish so I'll probably do that. I'll just let Ron and Harry copy it when they get back since I'm part of the reason they won't be able to work on it tonight."

Ginny nodded, "I'm sure they'll appreciate that. My brother especially. Well, if you're going to be doing that, I guess I'll just head up to my dorm."

With that she got up and climbed the stairs to her dorm. She decided to write to Tom for a bit before going to sleep. She opened her trunk, took out the diary, and opened it on her bed.

"Hello Tom."

"Hello Ginny, how have you been?"

"I've been ok. I enjoyed my first week at Hogwarts. But Harry and Ron ended up getting detention while defending Hermione today."

"That's unfortunate, but at least they were loyal to their friend. Now, I've been meaning to ask you to do something for me."

Ginny was about to ask Tom what he wanted her t do, when she felt a slight pressure in her head. Suddenly everything went dark and she knew no more.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but like I said, it just felt like a good spot to end the chapter.

Thanks for reading and please give me a review! They are extremely appreciated.


	8. Chapter 8: Blacking Out

Chapter 8: Blacking Out

A/N: Once again sorry for taking so long to post another chapter. Fortunately over Christmas break I was able to write quite a bit during my free time so expect the next couple of chapters to arrive shortly.

I even came up with an idea for a fourth book. I know that's very far into the future, but the idea has gotten me very excited to continue writing.

In this chapter Ginny experiences several more blackouts and slowly comes to believe that she is behind the attacks that are plaguing the school.

As usual, thanks for all of the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys!

(None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of J.K Rowling. Any recognizable sections of this chapter come from chapters 8-13 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

* * *

September sped by and soon it was October. There was a bout of colds amongst the students and staff that kept Madam Pomfrey busy. Much to Ginny's annoyance, Percy made her go to take a pepper-up potion saying that she looked pale. She nearly cursed Harry when he made the comment that the steam from the potion, combined with her red hair, made her head look like it was on fire.

Truth-be-told, she hadn't felt like herself for over a month, ever since the night that she had blacked out. She kept telling herself that she had just fallen asleep, but the whole event had felt extremely unnatural. If she had fallen asleep, then why did she still feel tired afterwards?

There was also the fact that the following day Harry had been going on about hearing voice after his detention with Lockhart. She knew it was probably just a coincidence, but the whole night had set her on edge.

"Ginny are you listening?"

She jumped slightly and looked up to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione looking at her oddly.

"Sorry, I spaced out. So what's this about a deathday party?"

Harry sighed before repeating himself, "Nearly-Headless Nick helped me get away from Filch after a Quidditch practice. In return, I offered to go to his five-hundredth deathday party this Halloween."

"But we'll miss the Halloween Feast!" Ron complained.

"Do you always think with your stomach Ron? I'm sure it would be fascinating. We could be some of the only living people to be invited to one. Besides, I'm sure there'll be some sort of refreshments there, it is a party after all." Hermione replied.

"Why would they have food? Ghosts can't eat!" Ron retorted.

"So would you want to go with us?" Harry asked Ginny as Ron and Hermione continued bickering.

She nodded her head. "It sounds interesting, plus if we miss all of the feast we could just ask Fred or George where the kitchens are. I know that they figured it out a couple years ago."

Harry nodded. "Hopefully we won't miss much of the feast. I was thinking we could just pop in and say hello before leaving…"

They were suddenly interrupted by several loud bangs and a shower of sparks. They looked over to see Percy yelling at Fred and George as the fire-salamander they had been trying to feed a filibuster firework escaped into the fireplace. Any further conversation was forgotten as they watched in amusement.

* * *

On the day of Halloween, Harry and the others were beginning to regret their promise to Nearly-Headless Nick. Whenever they mentioned skipping it however, Hermione insisted that Harry had promised and therefore, had to go. So, while everyone else headed down to the Great Hall for the feast, they got ready for the deathday party.

"What's taking Ginny?" Ron grumbled as he looked down at his watch."If we don't hurry up we'll miss the feast altogether."

"I'll go up and check on her." Hermione said as she walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Harry and Ron waited impatiently at the bottom of the staircase, but Hermione soon came down shaking her head.

"She's not up there. She must have headed down without us."

As they headed down to the party Harry grew concerned about Ginny. She had been acting odd lately and it wasn't like her to go somewhere without them. Especially if they had planned on going together earlier.

They finally reached an entryway hung with black velvet drapes that Nearly-Headless Nick was floating in front of.

"My dear friends", he said mournfully. "Welcome, welcome… so pleased you could come…"

"It wasn't a problem Nick. Did Ginny happen to come ahead of us?" Harry asked.

"No you three are the only students to arrive tonight. Now please, step inside and enjoy." He swept off his plumed hat and bowed them inside.

"She ditched us, that prat! I bet she's in the Great Hall right now enjoying the feast." Ron said angrily.

"Now Ron, I'm sure she didn't ditch us on purpose. She must have a perfectly good explanation for not being here." Hermione said.

* * *

Ginny woke up in her bed in a cold sweat. She glanced around frantically, not knowing where she was at first. When she realized that she was in her dorm room she calmed down slightly.

Her panic returned when she glanced at her watch and realized that she couldn't remember the past four hours and that her hands were covered in what she hoped was just red paint. It had happened again! She'd had another black out.

Ginny racked her brain. The last thing she remembered was… writing in Tom's diary. She vaguely remembered him asking her a question, but she'd passed out before she could answer it.

She headed into the girl's bathroom and started washing the paint off of her hands, wondering how it had gotten there. She jumped when she heard Ron, Harry, and Hermione's voices in the common room.

"The deathday party! She had missed it!" she thought as she groaned.

She decided she might as well face her friends now so she headed down the stairs.

"There you are! Why did you ditch us?" Ron asked angrily when he noticed her.

"I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep while doing homework. I just woke up." she explained.

"But I checked your room before we left and you weren't there." Hermione said looking confused.

Ginny shrugged. "I guess you didn't look hard enough."

Hermione looked like she wanted to say something, but Harry jumped into the conversation before she could.

"Well you didn't miss much at the deathday party, it was rather dull. However, wait until you here what happened afterwards." Harry said.

Ginny grew more and more concerned as she listened to Harry recount the nights events. This was the second time Harry had heard the mysterious voice, and he'd heard it on the same day she'd blacked out, just like the previous time.

When Harry got to the part about the red writing on the wall she visibly paled. The red paint! She'd woken up with red paint on her hands. Could this all be her fault somehow?

"Are you ok Ginny? You got really pale all of a sudden." Harry asked looking concerned.

"I-I think I might be coming down with something. I'm just going to go to bed. Goodnight everyone." she said making a hasty retreat back to her room.

* * *

Hermione gazed quizzically at Ginny's retreating form. Something was going on with her friend, and she was determined to figure out what it was. Judging from Ron's still angry expression, he was still angry at Ginny and hadn't noticed anything. Harry, however, had a very thoughtful expression on his face.

"Do you know what's going on with Ginny?" She asked him.

Harry shrugged. "I haven't got a clue. I've noticed something's been off about her for the past month." he responded.

"Do you think we should ask her about it?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "No she'll let us know when she's ready. Pestering her about it won't help."

Hermione nodded. She wished she could just figure out what was bothering the young redhead now, but she knew some things just took time. Besides, she was going to be extremely busy the next few months putting together the polyjuice potion.

* * *

On the morning of the Quidditch match against Slytherin Harry could be found with the rest of the Gryffindor team picking at his breakfast. This is where Ginny found him. She had barely gotten any sleep the previous night. She still couldn't help but think that somehow she was the one behind Ms. Norris' attack and the writing on the wall and it was affecting her sleep. She pushed her worries to the back of her mind thought as she sat in front of Harry.

"Ready to beat Slytherin today Harry?" she asked as she grabbed a biscuit and began buttering it.

He weakly nodded his head and went back to stirring his food around his plate.

"Harry you need to eat to keep your strength up for the game." she added noticing that he hadn't actually eating any of his food.

"Sorry, I've just got pre-game nerves. I can never eat much before a game. Don't worry I'll be fine." Harry reassured her.

Ginny nodded. She really didn't feel like eating much either, but she managed to eat a small breakfast. A few hours later when the rest of the school was eating breakfast the Gryffindor team got up to head down to the pitch.

Ginny waved goodbye to Harry and stayed at the table chatting with Colin. They were starting to become friends and she found that she enjoyed his company when she could steer their conversation away from Harry.

A short while later everyone began getting up and heading down to the Quidditch pitch. Ginny and Colin got up and walked down with Ron and Hermione. Ginny sighed when they started arguing again. She was about to ask the two to drop it and shut up when she began feeling extremely odd. She wanted to… no she _needed_ to return to her dorm couldn't explain the desire, but she knew that she needed to follow it.

"I'm sorry Colin I forgot something in my room. I'm going to go get it and I'll meet you guys in the stands." She said.

Ron and Hermione barely noticed what she'd said, but Colin replied, "I'll come with you and keep you company."

She shook her head. "No it's alright Colin I'll be quick. Besides, boys aren't allowed in the girl's dorms."

She quickly turned around and headed back to the castle, not being able to resist the urge anymore, leaving Colin behind with a confused expression on his face.

* * *

Collin watched Ginny rush back to the castle. "Have you two noticed anything odd about Ginny recently?" He asked Ron and Hermione.

Ron shook his head, but Hermione turned to Colin. "I have and so has Harry. Do you think you might know what's wrong with her?" she asked.

"Unfortunately no, I was hoping you guys would." Colin replied.

"Harry says that if something is bothering Ginny, than we'll just have to wait for her to tell us. We won't get anything from her if we pester her about it." Hermione explained.

No matter how much she hated it, she had accepted that she was just going to have to wait for Ginny to tell her what was wrong.

* * *

Colin crept through the castle halls late that night. He knew that it was well past curfew, and if he got caught he would be in huge trouble, but he was on a mission. He had to see Harry Potter.

This trop wasn't about trying to get another picture or autograph from him thought. Although he did bring his camera in case the opportunity arose. No, he was making this trip to ask Harry about Ginny.

She had said that she just needed to make a quick trip back to the castling that she would be back shortly, but she never did. Even after the game he had searched the castle, but wasn't able to find her. Hermione had told him that Harry had noticed something was wrong with Ginny as well. So he figured if anyone might have an idea of what was going on with her, Harry would.

He turned another corner and continued to head toward the hospital wing when he heard a strange sound ahead of him. It sounded like… something slithering across the stone floor.

"That's odd." he thought

He got his camera ready in case it was something interesting and began heading toward the noise. As he reached the end of the corridor he saw what looked like a massive tail slide around the corner.

Growing excited he jumped around the corner with his camera at the ready. He had snapped three rapid pictures before he even realized what he was looking at. It was a massive snake that easily filled most of the corridor it was traveling through. He let out a small gasp as he continued to take pictures.

Suddenly the snake turned it's massive head around and the creature's beady, yellow eyes gazed directly into the camera and Colin knew no more.

* * *

"Ginny? Ginny wake up! Wake up!"

Ginny's head shot out of her pillow and there was a loud *crack* as her head collided with Hermione's.

"Bloody hell! Sorry Hermione!" she said as she rubbed the knot that was now forming on her head.

Hermione grimaced as she rubbed her head as well. "It's alright Ginny, I probably shouldn't have be leaning over you like that."

"So why did you feel the need to wake me up this early on a Sunday?" Ginny asked.

"It's about Colin. Professor McGonagall just announced that he was attacked last night. He's in the hospital wing right now, petrified." Hermione explained.

"What?!" Ginny asked as she paled and memories from the previous day came crashing back to her.

After she'd left Colin behind she had gone to her dormitory. She had no idea that why she'd had such a strong urge to return so she decided to ask Tom what was going on with her. As soon as she had opened the Diary and asked him, however, she had blacked out. She'd awoken late that night feeling exhausted and having no memory of the day. She'd then kept down the stairs, but stopped when she heard voices. Ron and Hermione were still up discussing the days events. This was how she'd discovered that Harry was in the hospital wing regrowing all of the bones in his arm.

She had been relieved to hear that nothing suspicious had happened while she'd been out. However, after hearing what Hermione had just said to her, she now knew that something had in fact happened. There had been another attack while she was still unconscious!

"Ginny are you alright? You look pale." Hermione asked looking at her with concern.

"I'm fine Hermione. I'm just worried about Colin." Ginny reassured her.

Hermione didn't seem to believe her. "Are you sure Ginny? I've noticed that something's been off about you for awhile now."

Ginny was now having an inner conflict inside her head. She knew she should tell Hermione about her blackouts, but what if she told a professor and they somehow linked them to the attacks? She could be expelled.

"Don't worry Hermione. I really am fine." she said, deciding not to say anything. After all, she could just be jumping to conclusions.

"Alright, if you say so." Hermione responded. Though she didn't seem to accept what she had said.

"So do you have anything else to tell me?" Ginny asked when Hermione didn't leave.

"Yes, actually. Because of the attack, Ron and I want to start the Polyjuice potion as soon as possible. We're going to head down to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom in a little bit if you want to join us." Hermione explained.

Ginny nodded. "Alright just let me shower and I'll meet you in the common room." she replied.

"See you in a bit." Hermione answered before leaving the room.

Ginny sighed. She hated lying to her friends, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell them the truth of her blackouts. She got out of bed and took a quick shower before putting her robes on and heading down into the common room. Ron and Hermione were waiting for her on one of the couches.

"Ready Ginny?" Ron asked when he saw her.

She nodded her head. "Shouldn't we wait for Harry to get out of the hospital wing?"

Hermione bit her lip as a guilty look flashed across her face. "Normally we would, but I think we should start the potion as soon as possible."

Ron nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah Harry should be able to find us pretty easily. We visited Myrtle's bathroom just the other day."

So the three left the common room and headed to the corridor that Myrtle's bathroom was located they had made sure no one was looking they went inside. Hermione had already brought a cauldron down and she started pulling ingredients out of her robes.

"Right, so this is a very difficult and complicated potion, but since we're starting now we should be able to get done by Christmas." Hermione explained.

Ginny listened intently as Hermione gave her and Ron instructions. She hoped that the potion would work and that Draco would know something about the attacks. It would bring her some peace of mind if she found out that someone else was responsible and not her.

Suddenly Ginny heard the door open and a voice say, "It's me".

Hermione gasped and dropped the spoon she was using to stir the potion. She then peered through the hole in the stall.

"Harry! You gave us such a fright - come in- how's your arm?"

Harry told them the previous night's events. First that Dobby had visited him and he was the one behind the cursed bludger, and also that Dumbledore had confirmed that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened when Colin had been brought in petrified.

They worked diligently in silence after Harry had finished. Once they had done everything they needed to do for the potion for the day Hermione and Ron packed up there things and got up to leave. Harry however waited behind and grabbed Ginny's arm when she tried to get up as well. She gave him a questioning look but he just mouthed the word "stay".

As Ron and Hermione left the room Hermione noticed what was happening and she gave Harry a nod and a knowing look before leading Ron out of the bathroom.

"What's going on Harry?" Ginny asked growing a little concerned.

"Nothing bad I just want to talk to you." He responded.

"Ok, what do you want to talk about?" She asked.

"You. Something's been off about you Gin. It started a few months ago and I've kept my distance, hoping that you could figure it out on your own, but now I want to know. What's been bugging you?" He asked.

Ginny sighed. She had wondered how long it would be before someone confronted her. She had been noticing Hermione giving her worried looks for awhile now and that morning wasn't the first time that she had asked if she was ok.

"I'm fine Harry, really." Ginny responded knowing that Harry would buy it.

"How long have we been friends Ginny? I know when something's bugging you and there has been something wrong with you for awhile now." Harry responded crossing his arms.

Ginny crossed her arms as well. "Harry if there was something wrong I would tell you. If I've been acting odd than it's probably because I'm still adjusting to being at Hogwarts. Now can you stop questioning me." She snapped at him.

Harry stared at her for a few seconds before nodding sharply. He gathered his things and left the bathroom leaving Ginny by herself. She felt bad immediately. Harry didn't deserve to be yelled at, he had just been trying to help her and she let her temper get the better of her. She quickly followed him out of the bathroom with the intent of apologizing and reassuring that him that she was fine.

* * *

Over a month passed and Ginny didn't experience anymore black outs. She was beginning to think that the worst was over. That she was in and definitely not behind any of the attacks. Now she focused on helping the others to finish the Polyjuice potion. She still wanted definite proof that it wasn't her behind the attacks and she agreed that if anyone knew something, it was probably Draco.

They decided that since there was only enough potion for three people that Ginny would stay behind, which didn't upset her at all. She really didn't fancy having her body morphed into a Slytherin.

Hermione managed to get a hair of Millicent Bulstrode at Lockhart's dueling club. Unfortunately the success of the day had been dampened when everyone discovered that Harry was a Parselmouth. Now it was believed by most that he was the heir of Slytherin and the one behind the attacks.

"It's more likely that I'm behind the attacks than Harry." Ginny thought as she lay on her bed. She had just overheard some of her fellow Gryffindors saying that they didn't feel comfortable staying in the same tower as the heir of Slytherin.

She had told them off before angrily storing up to her room. She decided to talk to Tom about what was going on. After all, he did always seem extremely interested when she talked about Harry.

As she was opening her trunk a thought struck of her black outs had occurred while she was talking to Tom. She figured it was a coincidence, but something was tugging at the back of her mind. She had the diary in her lap as she tried to stretch her memory to the times right before her blackouts.

She was always talking to Tom… and he'd always say something to her. No, he'd asked her a question, the same question. "Can you do something for me?"

She if Tom had been causing her to have blackouts? She glanced warily at the Diary as something her dad had told her passed through her mind.

"Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps it's brain."

She cautiously opened the book. If Tom was behind the blackouts she needed to find held her quill above the paper, but before she could write anything, the words, "Hello Ginny, I need you to do something for me again." scrolled across the page and everything went black.

She awoke several hours later to the sound of commotion in the common room. She was in full panic mode now. Tom was the one behind the blackouts! But why? And did this mean that she was also behind the attacks?

She glanced down at her hands and sighed with relief when she saw that they were clean. She did notice something sticking out of her robes. When she pulled it out she found that it was a chicken feather.

"How did that get there?" she thought.

Now that she was certain that Tom was behind her blackouts, she needed to find out if she was responsible for the attacks. So she went into the common room and located Harry, Hermione, and Ron whispering in a corner.

She put on a fake smile and walked over to them. "What are you three whispering about? You look like you're up to something."

"Oh Ginny, it's horrible! There's been another attack." Hermione said.

Ginny's smile vanished and she stopped in her tracks. "W-Who was attacked?"

"Nearly-Headless Nick and Justin Flinch-Fletchley." Ron said.

"And to make matters worse, now everyone is going to be certain that I'm behind the attacks. The Hufflepuffs thought that Justing would be my next target." Harry added looking depressed.

Ginny slumped down in her chair. This seemed to confirm her worst fears. She must be somehow causing the attacks. She needed to tell her friends.

But just as she opened her mouth to speak a thought crossed her mind. "What about Draco?" What if all of this was still just a coincidence?"

However likely it seemed to her that this was all her fault, Draco also seemed suspicious. So Ginny decided that when the time came for them to interrogate Draco, if they came up with nothing, then she would tell them everything. In the mean time she need to figure out how to get rid of Tom's Diary.

The last few weeks leading up to the Holidays seemed to go by at a snail's pace for Ginny. She was in constant fear that somehow someone would link the attacks to her and that she would be expelled. The only thing that kept her going was the small hope she had that they would discover that Draco was behind the attacks.

* * *

She also continued to try to think of ways to dispose of the Diary. She knew she wouldn't just throw it away and risk another student discovering it. She'd considered just throwing it in the fireplace, but something was holding her back.

Finally, the day came for them to use the potion. Hermione and Ginny waited in Myrtle's bathroom while Harry and Ron went to get Crabbe and Goyle's hair. They soon came in with grins of success as they brandished a few tufts of hair apiece. Hermione portioned out three glasses of the potion and they all added their hairs.

"Urg - essence of Millicent Bulstrode," said Ron gazing at Hermione's potion in disgust.

"You know, I was upset that I wouldn't be able to join you guys, but now that I see the potion… I'm glad I'm staying behind." Ginny said.

"Well aren't you the little martyr." Harry scoffed.

She simply tuck her tongue out at him.

"Come on, let's just get this over with." Ron said.

They all agreed and each went into a different stall. About a minute later Ginny saw the stalls start to shake and she could hear grunts of pain coming from them. Soon they stopped and Harry and Ron emerged looking identical to Crabbe and Goyle.

"Wow, you two look exactly like Crabbe and Goyle." She remarked.

Harry and Ron stared at each other for a few seconds. Ron eventually said, "This is unbelievable!"

Harry nodded, "We'd better get going. We've still got to figure out where the Slytherin common room is. I only hope we can find someone to follow."

Ron continued to stare at Harry. "You don't know how bizarre it is to see Goyle thinking."

He banged on Hermione's door. "C'mon, we need to go-"

A high-pitched voice answered him. "I-I don't think I'm going to come after all. You go on without me."

Ginny watched confused as Hermione convinced Harry and Ron to leave without her. They soon left promising they'd be back in an hour.

"Hermione? What's wrong? Why didn't you go with them?" she asked as she approached the stall.

"It's nothing Ginny. I-I'm fine." Hermione responded.

"You don't sound fine to me." Ginny said.

Suddenly Moaning Myrtle came out of her toilet and floated over to Hermione's stall curiously. She looks in and immediately burst into giggles.

"Ooh wait until you see her. She looks horrible!" she said before continuing to giggle.

"Hermione open up!" Ginny said as she began tugging on the stall door.

No Ginny, just leave me alone." Hermione said.

Finally having enough, Ginny pulled out her wand and muttered, " _Alohamora_!"

She gasped when the door opened and revealed Hermione, who was looking very much like a cat.

"I-It must have been a cat hair that I pulled off of Millicent. Look at me! I look horrible!" Hermione moaned as tears formed in her eyes.

"Don't worry Hermione, I'm sure Madame Pomfrey will be able to fix you up." Ginny said giving her a hug.

"Y-You think?" Hermione asked.

"I'm certain." Ginny said

She spent the rest of the time comforting Hermione until Harry and Ron returned.

"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," Ron panted, closing the bathroom door behind him. "I know we still haven't found out… Bloody hell Hermione!" Ron explained as he and Harry stared at her in shock.

"She pulled a cat hair off of Millicent, I'm going to take her to the hospital wing soon." Ginny explained. "So what did you guys find out? Is Draco behind the attacks?" She asked eagerly.

Harry shook his head. "Sorry Gin, he isn't behind it and he doesn't know who's doing it either."

Ginny slumped down next to Hermione, struggling to hold back tears.

"Don't worry Ginny. Whoever the bastard is that's behind this, we're going to catch them. We're not going to give up." Ron said trying to comfort her.

The problem was, Ginny now had a pretty good idea who was behind the attacks.

* * *

After that night Hermione remained in the hospital wing for several weeks. Fortunately Madame Pomfrey didn't ask too many questions when a student came in so they didn't have to explain much to her.

At first the rest of the students thought that Hermione had been attacked during the break, but Harry, Ron, and Ginny had spread the rumor that she had just been exposed to a Transfiguration spell gone wrong.

After about a week of being confined to the hospital wing Hermione and complained about being lonely, so Ginny decided to lend her Midnight. Much to everyone's amusement, Midnight took an instant liking to Hermione and wouldn't leave her side.

While Harry and Ron worried about Hermione, Ginny continued to worry about the attacks. she was now almost certain that she was behind the attacks and somehow the diary was linked to it. She'd even started to notice that whenever she was nearer to the diary she felt an urge to open it.

The urge increased with each passing day. Finally one night it all came to a head. She was in her room when once again she felt an urge to open the diary, but this time it was almost irresistible. She had her trunk open and was digging for the diary when she caught herself. She couldn't let Tom control her, she couldn't let there be another attack. Ginny knew what she had to do.

She grabbed the diary and quietly rushed down to the common room. She headed straight for the fireplace and held the diary above it. Her arm began shaking and she eventually pulled it back.

"Fine Tom, if I can't destroy you, them I'm going to put you somewhere no one will look." she mumbled as she clutched the diary to her chest and left the Gryffindor tower.

"What are you doing? It's past curfew!" The fat lady said as Ginny crawled passed her portrait, but she ignored her.

She quietly crept from corridor to corridor until she had reached er destination: Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She opened the door and crept in. Standing there silently, she drew back her arm and got ready to throw the diary into a toilet, but minutes passed and she still hadn't. She was beginning to lose the will to even do this.

"No! You won't control me any longer Tom!" She said as she gathered her nerve and threw the diary.

It sailed through the air toward the toilet. At the last second Moaning Myrtle stuck her head out curiously and the diary passed right through her head and landed with a loud *splash* in the toilet.

Ginny turned and ran before Myrtle saw who had thrown the diary and headed back to Gryffindor tower hoping Myrtle's wails wouldn't draw any unwanted attention to her.

She arrived safely a few minutes later at the entrance to the common room. After giving the password to a very disgruntled fat lady she crawled through the passageway and snuck back up into her bed. That night she slept soundly for the first time in months.

* * *

"Please guys, don't make me do this to him." Ginny moaned to Fred and George, who had just cornered her.

"Now Ginny, you agreed to the bed." Fred said.

"And lost." added George.

"So you have to do one thing for us." Fred continued.

"Of our choice." George finished grinning.

Ginny shook her head. "I know, but this is going to be so embarrassing. Not to mention cruel to Harry." she complained.

"Relax Gin-Gin, it'll be funny." George replied.

"Yeah and you won't even have to give it to him. We recruited this fine fellow." Fred added indicating the ridiculous-looking dwarf next to them.

"All you have to do is read this to him and he'll deliver it to Harry." George explained handing a piece of parchment to her,

"Do you think you could sing it?" Fred asked the dwarf who gave him a gruff nod.

"Excellent!" Fred and George said simultaneously.

 _"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."_ Ginny read out loud to the dwarf who nodded his head again and rushed off.

"Oh that's horrible guys, poor Harry."

Fred and George both grinned. "Yes poor Harry indeed!" They both laughed.

A few hours later Ginny was heading to Charms class when she noticed the dwarf. She looked around and realized that Harry was close by. She did her best to surprise a giggle. She felt bad for Harry, she really did. But when it came to pranking, Fred and George were the best and she always enjoyed watching their pranks play out.

She had to give it to him, Harry did his best to avoid the dwarf, even ripping his bag in the process, but he was soon pinned down by the dwarf and having the poem sung to him.

She now laughed along with everyone else. Harry's face was priceless. It had gone beet-red, almost Weasley style, and he was struggling to escape the crowd.

"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" She heard Draco Malfoy sneer and she looked to see what he was talking about.

Suddenly all the blood drained from her face and she felt like she was going to pass out. Draco was holding the diary! Which meant that Harry had just had it. How long had he had it? It had been several weeks since Ginny had gotten rid of it. What if Tom had told Harry that she was behind the attacks?

She was so deep in thought that she wasn't paying attention to the exchange between Harry and Draco and jumped when Harry successfully cast _Experlliarmus_ on Draco.

She would deal with Harry and the diary later, for now she needed to get to class and think about what to do next. As she passed Draco he yelled at her, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"

She turned to him and snarled. "At least he got a valentine, I haven't seen you receiving any today. I guess no one's interested in a greasy-haired git like you." She then turned and entered her class leaving an open-mouthed Draco behind.

* * *

That night Ginny headed up to the second year boy's dormitories. She had seen Harry head up there a little while ago and decided now was as good a time as any to tell him everything. Seeing the diary again had made Ginny come to this decision. Since getting rid of the diary obviously wasn't working she'd decided it was time to tell everything to one of the few people she trusted: Harry.

She quietly opened the door to Harry's room and went in. It looked almost exactly like hers, just with a few extra beds. She looked around and saw Harry staring in shock at the open diary in front of him.

Fear rushed through her veins. Had he finally discovered that it was her behind the attacks?

"Harry?" she asked nervously.

He turned to her. "It was Hagrid, Ginny. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago."

"What?" Ginny asked.

Harry indicated the diary, " I can write to the owner of this diary, Tom Riddle, and he just showed me what happened fifty years ago. Hagrid's the one who opened the Chamber." he explained.

"Harry, I don't think you should trust that diary or Tom." Ginny said.

"Why not?" Harry asked giving her an odd look.

"Because, I think it's been making me cause the attacks that have been happening this year." she replied.


	9. Chapter 9: The Chamber of Secrets

Chapter 9: The Chamber of Secrets

 _As promised I only took about a week to post the next chapter. I already have the next two chapters written so they will also be arriving shortly._

 _In this chapter Ginny tells Harry about the diary and her suspicions about it making her cause the attacks._

 _As usual, thanks for all of the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys!_

 _(None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of J.K Rowling. Any recognizable sections of this chapter come from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)_

* * *

Harry sat up in his bed trying to catch his breath. Riddle had just shown him how the person who'd opened the chamber last time had ben caught. It had been Hagrid! He had to tell the others. But just as he was about to get up the door to his room opened and Ginny walked in.

"Harry?" she asked nervously.

He turned to her. "It was Hagrid Ginny. Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago." he explained.

"What?" Ginny asked.

He indicated the diary. "I can write to the owner of this diary, Tom Riddle, and he just showed me what happened the last time the chamber was opened. Hagrid was the one who did it." he explained.

"Harry I don't think you should trust that diary or Tom." Ginny said.

"Why not?" he asked giving her an odd look.

"Because, I think it's been making me cause the attacks that have been happening this year." Ginny replied.

Harry stared at her in shock. "You think that you're the one behind them? But that doesn't make any sense."

"Just let me explain." Ginny said.

And she did. He listened as Ginny described everything that had happened to her that year. She described all of her blackouts and how they always coincided with an attack or some other strange event. She also told him that overtime she had a blackout she had been talking to Tom before it happened.

Harry sat in silence for several minutes after Ginny had finished talking.

"Well this does explain why you've been acting odd all year." he commented.

"What am I going to do Harry? I'm going to be expelled!" Ginny said with tears forming in her eyes.

"First of all, no one's going to be expelled. Second, I don't think you're behind the attacks Gin." Harry said.

"Y-You don't?" Ginny asked while wiping her eyes.

"No I don't. I think the attacks happening at the same time as your blackouts is a coincidence. If you were unconscious than how could you be causing the attacks." Harry asked.

"I-I guess I'd never thought of it that way. But what about the black outs? What do you think is causing them?" she asked.

"Harry indicated the diary. "I think you're probably right about the diary. It was able to show me a vision so it's obviously very powerful, and I don't know enough about this Tom to trust him." He said.

"So what should we do with it?" Ginny asked.

"I'll keep it locked in my trunk for now. If I start getting urges to write in it like you did then we'll think of something else." He said as he put the diary at the bottom of his trunk and locked it.

"Thanks for listening to me Harry. I thought I was going to explode, keeping all that in." she said.

Harry gave her a hug, "Of course Gin, that's what best friends are for. Now let's go tell Ron and Hermione about the vision Tom showed me."

"You're not going to tell them about my black outs are you?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"No I'm not. That will be just between us two." He reassured her.

"Thank you." she replied.

He nodded and led her down the stairs. He was glad that she had finally opened up to him and told him what was bothering her. He just hoped that he was making the right decision in keeping the diary in his trunk.

* * *

Lord Voldemort's teenage self sat simmering at the bottom of Harry's trunk. He couldn't believe that foolish girl had told Harry Potter about her black outs. He'd thought that he'd had a tighter grip on her. He must have underestimated how close the two's bond was.

All was not lost however, the boy had been right in thinking that he was powerful. He would bide his time here for now, building his strength. Soon he would control the girl again, and continue his plans.

* * *

As the days went by Harry and Ginny began to become more and more confident in their decision. It had been almost four months since the last attack, and ever since Harry and gotten hold of the diary, Ginny hadn't had another black out.

Harry was relieved that his plan seemed to be working He knew it was only temporary and that they would eventually have to do something about the diary. For now though Ginny was acting like her normal self again, which was good to see.

Also since it had been so long since an attack people were starting to treat him normally again and not like the heir of Slytherin. Hopefully, just hopefully, they had seen the end of the attacks and they would have a normal ending to the crazy school year.

* * *

Ron headed towards the Quidditch field with his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face. He was getting tired of his friends running off at the last minute. He couldn't blame Harry, he had to be at the field early, but Hermione had dashed off to the library right before they were going to leave. Right when Harry and heard those voices again.

Ginny was a completely different story. They hadn't been able to find her at all that day. She wasn't in her dorm room, or the Great Hall. Harry had been worried since it wasn't like her to miss a Quidditch match, but Ron figured she was just pulling her little disappearing act that she'd already pulled several times that year.

Just as he reached the Quidditch field he heard Professor McGonagall's magnified voice saying, "This match has been canceled. All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"

Ron grumbled along with the rest of the students at the announcement of the canceled match. He was about to head back to the castle with the rest of the students when he noticed McGonagall calling Harry over. He quickly detached himself from the crowd and walked over in the two's direction.

To his surprise, McGonagall didn't tell him off, instead she said, "Yes, perhaps you'd better come, too, Weasley…"

This only caused Ron's worries to worsen, and from the look on his face, Harry's as made their way through the castle and stopped in front of the Hospital Wing.

"This will be a bit of a shock, there has been another attack… another double attack."

Ron barely heard what McGonagall had said as she pushed open the doors and he saw…

"Hermione." he groaned.

He heard McGonagall still talking but none of her words seemed to register as he stared at his petrified friend.

"Not Hermione. How would they carry on without his Hermione?"

Ron was so full of emotions that he didn't even realized he'd thought of her as his.

* * *

Harry quickly followed Professor McGonagall up to the common room. He was just as worried about Hermione as Ron was, but another thought was pestering him: Ginny. They hadn't been able to find her that morning. If she had been having a black out he knew that this would confirm her theory that she was somehow behind the attacks.

When they made it to the common room Harry and Ron wearily sat down on a couch and listened to McGonagall announce what had happened and explain the new rules. As soon as she had finished and left the common room, he noticed Ginny dashing toward him.

She jumped into his lap and began sobbing on his shoulders.

"I-It happened again Harry! A-And this time Hermione and Penelope got attacked!"

Harry glanced around, but fortunately there was too much commotion going on around them for anyone to notice, and Ron still seemed to be in shock.

"You had another blackout?" he whispered to her.

She only nodded her head before burying it back in his shoulder.

"Gin I think we're going to have to tell Dumbledore." he said.

She tightened her grip on him and whispered, "I know".

When Ginny had calmed down, Harry gently lifted her off of him.

"We've got to see Hagrid. If he was behind the attacks last time then he might know where the monster is hidden." He said to both Ginny and Ron.

Ron seemed to finally snap out of his stupor.

"But McGonagall said we've got to stay in our tower unless we're in class."

Harry grinned, "I think it's time to get my dad's old cloak out again."

* * *

Several hours later the three slumped back into the common room. Ron made a beeline for their dorm room, obviously not wanting to talk to anyone. Harry and Ginny lingered however.

"What should we do now that Dumbledore's gone?" Ginny asked while shaking.

Harry gave her a hug. "I don't know. For now we'll do our best to figure out what's happening to you." He decided.

"Do you think we should tell anyone?" Ginny asked.

Harry thought about it for a minute before shaking his head. "No, with Dumbledore gone I don't know who to trust. You saw what happened to Hagrid. They took him without any proof that it was him this time. I think for now we should continue to keep this quiet." He said.

"Also, here's this." she said holding out Tom's Diary.

Harry stared at it. "I thought that was at the bottom of my trunk."

Ginny nodded. "That's where it was before I blacked out. I woke up in my bed clutching it."

Harry sighed and took it. "I would say that we should find a better hiding spot for it, but I doubt that would help. For now I'm going to make sure to stay near you when we're not in class. Hopefully that will help." he decided.

"Thank you Harry. I'm going to try to get some sleep now." she said giving him one last hug before heading up to her room.

Harry slumped down into a chair by the fire and stared at the diary in his hands. Sleep did not come to him that night.

* * *

The days passed by slowly after that night. Students and teachers alike were on edge now that there had been another attack. Also with Dumbledore gone hope seemed to have completely abandoned the castle.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny spent their days scouring the school for the spiders that Hagrid had spoken of. This task proved very difficult as most of the spiders seemed to have already left the school.

Finally during Herbology Harry noticed several spiders heading towards the Forbidden Forest. So, despite Ron's protests, they dawned the invisibility cloak that night and headed towards the forest.

They first stopped at Hagrid's hut and brought out Fang, who happily trotted around behind them.

"A-Are you sure we should do this?" Ron asked as they began making their way through the forest.

"It's our only lead Ron, don't you want to find out how to stop whatever stopped Hermione?" Harry asked.

This seemed to work as Ron got a steely look in his eyes and didn't complain anymore. As they crept deeper and deeper into the forest the stream of spiders continued to increase. At first they could only make out a few, but soon there were hundreds, all heading in the same direction. Oddly enough they all seemed to be forming a circle around them that none of the spiders dared enter.

Harry noticed Ginny shivering beside him and he pulled her in closer to comfort her. As he was doing this he noticed several large, beady eyes peering at them. He couldn't tell what they were, but they appeared to be keeping their distance so he decided it would would be best not to alert the others.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of walking, they reached a clearing where the trees had parted and the stars shown through. Harry heard Ginny gasp and saw Ron seize up in terror as they view what was in front of them.

Hundreds alf giant spiders, the size of cars, were backing away from them, clicking their pincers. In the middle of them all stood a giant spider the size of a small elephant, who the spiders were calling Aragog.

"Who are you that brings the scent of the dread beast to us? I can see that you are not accompanied by Hagrid." Aragog said.

"We're friends of Hagrid. He's in trouble. Up at the school they think he's been setting a-a-something on students." Harry shouted.

The three listened as Aragog told them about how Hagrid had hatched him from a shell and raised him in a cupboard in the school. He told them that when a girl was killed, Hagrid had been framed. He he was not the monster that had been attacking the school.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"We do not speak of it! We do not name it! We dare not even approach you for she bares it's scent." Aragog said using one of his legs to indicate Ginny, causing her to shake even harder in Harry's arm.

"Now leave our presence friend of Hagrid. We will not touch you because of the girl, but there are other creatures in the forest that aren't bothered by the scent." Aragog said before crawling back into his nest.

Not needing any to be told twice, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Fang turned and hurried away from the clearing.

Some time later, they broke free from the forest. Harry and Ginny put Fang back into the hut while Ron got violently sick by the pumpkin patch.

"I'm sorry that we didn't learn anything useful Ginny." Harry said.

"Well I think we confirmed that I'm behind the attacks. Whatever is attacking the students, it's scent is on me." Ginny said shuddering.

"Follow the spiders." Ron said weakly as he appeared from behind the hut. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive. If it weren't for Ginny. Which reminds me, why the bloody hell were those spiders afraid of you Ginny?"

Harry sighed and looked at Ginny, who nodded. It was time to tell Ron.

As Ginny explained everything to him, Ron's eyes grew wider and wider. "So you think you're the one behind the attacks and that somehow this diary is making you do it?" he asked.

Ginny just nodded.

"Well that's just great! And we still know absolutely nothing. We've got no leads. None!" Ron groaned slumping to the ground.

The three stood there, deep in thought until a thought crossed Harry's mind.

"Wait, Aragog said that a girl died in the bathroom the last time the Chamber was opened. What if that girl was still there?" he asked.

Ron and Ginny stared at him blankly until both of their eyes widened in realization.

"Bloody hell…" Ron muttered.

"Moaning Myrtle." Ginny said.

* * *

Unfortunately for the three, sneaking to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was proving to be much more difficult than sneaking into the forbidden forest. They were still being escorted from class to class by teachers and the night time security appeared to have doubled as well.

It didn't help that Myrtle's bathroom was ground zero for the first attack. On the other hand, the tightened security also made it easier to keep an eye on Ginny. They were only allowed out of their common rooms for classes which meant that Ginny was never left alone in the common room with the diary.

At least not until one morning that Professor McGonagall announced that the mandrakes would be ready that evening. After the announcement, almost everyone began cheering. Ron seemed to look a lot happier than he'd been since Hermione was attacked.

Ginny, on the other hand, had gone rather pale and Harry realized why. When all the students were unpetrified, there was a chance that one of them would be able to link the attacks to Ginny.

He leaned over to her and gave her an understanding look. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Ginny turned to him and smiled meekly. "I-I'm ok. Just not feeling that great. I think I'll just go back to bed instead of going to class." she said.

"Are you sure? You'll be alone for several hours until classes are over." he said, putting emphasis on the word alone. If Ginny caught his meaning she didn't show it.

"Yes I'm sure Harry. I'll be fine."

Harry nodded. "Well I'm coming with you. There's something I need to check before class."

He told Ron that he'd meet him in class and he and Ginny left the Great Hall.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Gin? You'd tell me if you were getting urges to write in the diary right?" he asked her concerned.

"I'm not. I'm just not feeling very good. And besides, this might be my last day at Hogwarts." Ginny responded.

"They're not going to expel you. None of this is your fault. As soon as Dumbledore comes back we'll explain everything to him and hopefully figure out what to do with the diary." he reassured her.

Ginny only nodded her head and they continued their trip in silence. When they got into the common room, Harry bid Ginny goodbye as she headed up to her room. He then rushed up to his room and opened his trunk. He dug through it and sighed with relief when he saw the diary at the bottom of his that he was certain that the diary was still there, he closed the trunk and took out his wand. Concentrating hard he performed a locking spell that they had learned in Charms class recently.

Feeling confident that he had done everything he could do to keep Ginny from the diary, he hurried off to his first class.

With the knowledge that the victims were going to be unpetrified that night, everyone was in much higher spirits. Harry and Ron were able to trick Lockhart into letting them go to class alone. Taking the opportunity, they rushed off to Myrtle's bathroom, but we stopped by Professor McGonagall.

Thinking quickly, Harry told her that they were going to see Hermione and, to their surprise, McGonagall allowed them to.

So that's how they found themselves in front of a petrified Hermione reading the parchment they'd found in her hand.

"It all makes sense Ron. The monster is a Basilisk. See, spiders fear it. That's why none would go near Ginny. If she's been opening the chamber then she'd have it's scent all over her." Harry said excitedly.

Ron shuddered. "Blimey, I hate the idea of one of those things being near my sister. What do we do now?" he asked.

"We need to tell the professors. Now that we know what the monster is, hopefully it can be stopped." Harry said.

Ron nodded in agreement and they headed over to the staffroom. When it came time for class to end there was no bell, instead McGonagall's voice was heard throughout the school. "All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staffroom. Immediately, please."

Wanting to know what was going on, Harry and Ron quickly hid in a wardrobe. They listened in horror as McGonagall told the other professors that the monster and taken Ginny into the Chamber.

Once they were done talking and had left the room, a trembling Ron turned to Harry. "What are we going to do? It has Ginny!"

We're going into the Chamber, and we're going to save Ginny."

* * *

Several hours later Harry sat in a pool of ink in the middle of the Chamber of Secrets. He'd managed to kill the basilisk and Riddle with the help of Fawkes and the Sorting Hat. Now he leaned over Ginny, praying for her to wake up.

She suddenly let out a moan and opened her eyes. She glanced around the Chamber, seeing the dead basilisk and the destroyed diary in Harry's hands.

"Oh thank god Harry, you saved me! As soon as you left Gryffindor tower this morning I felt Riddle take over me. I went into your room and used a spell I'd never heard of to open your trunk. The last thing I remembered was Riddle coming out of the diary." she explained sobbing slightly.

"It's alright. It turns out that basilisk fangs were able to destroy the diary. The monster and Riddle are finished. It's finally over Ginny." he said reassuringly.

Ginny suddenly burst into tears. "I'm going to be expelled!"

Harry hugged her and tried to reassure her. "No they're not. Voldemort tricked you, that's not your fault. And if they expel you they'll have to expel me and Ron as well because we both knew about the diary. It's not going to happen Gin." he tried to reassure her.

This seemed to help a little as Harry led her out of the Chamber.

* * *

Dumbledore beamed as he listened to Harry recount his adventure in the Chamber and he and his friends investigative work over the year. He truly was a remarkable and resourceful boy. He focused briefly on Ginny, who was clutching onto Harry like a lifeline. The two still had a pink glow around them, but it was stronger. Their ordeal with Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets seemed to have made their bond even stronger.

After Ginny and Lockhart had been sent to the Hospital Wing and Lucius had left the castle, minus Dobby, Dumbledore got up and headed over to the Hospital Wing. He assumed that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would still be there with their daughter.

He saw that he was correct when he opened the doors to see the two sitting next to a sleeping Ginny Weasley.

"How is she doing?" he asked as he approached them.

"Madame Pomfrey gave her a dreamless sleep potion. She'll be fine in the morning. The only thing we'll have to worry about is how she'll handle things mentally." Mr. Weasley explained as he held his daughter's hand.

"That's good to here. I know you two have been through a lot tonight, but there is one thing I'd like to discuss with you. It's very similar to the conversation we had last year." Dumbledore said.

"About the Love's Curse spell?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Indeed." He responded. "I sensed today that the two's bond has increased even more. I am now certain that the spell will work on the two. All I have to ask of you is to till me when, in the future, the two become romantically involved as I'm sure they will. That will be when we know they are ready for the spell." he explained.

"We'll be sure to tell you Albus." Mr Weasley responded.

"Good. Ah, now I think it's time for us to revive all of our petrified students." Dumbledore said as Professors Snape and Sprout walked in holding a steaming cauldron.

* * *

The rest of the school year passed by quickly. All of the victims of the attacks were unpetrified, Hagrid was released from Azkaban with his name cleared, and the four hundred points Harry and Ron had received won Gryffindor the house cup. Hermione was discouraged when all exams were cancelled, and Ginny seemed to be recovering from everything that had happened.

Finally the day came for them to return to the Burrow. They spent the trained home enjoying each others company and discussing the events of the year. When they arrived at the train station Hermione gave them all a hug and made them promise to write often.

When she got to Harry she pulled him aside.

"What's up Hermione?" he asked her.

"It's Ginny. I'm worried about her. She knows that what happened wasn't her fault, but she still carries a lot of guilt. I know how close you two are. Can you talk to her love the summer?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry, I was already planning on it." He assured her.

She gave him another quick hug. "Thank you Harry, I knew you would."

"C'mon Harry, I see mum and dad!" Ron shouted.

"Have a good summer you guys. And remember to write!" Hermione said.

"We promise!" Harry said as he followed Ron and Ginny.

He noticed that while Ginny smiled at Hermione, the smile didn't reach her eyes. Yes he was definitely going to help her this summer.

* * *

 _A/N: I honestly wasn't a very big fan of this chapter. Not a whole lot changes from canon, and since I don't like re-writing events that happened in the books this chapter was pretty much just a summary of the ending of the Chamber of Secrets with only a few changes. The next chapter however will cover Harry and the Weasleys' trip to Egypt, which I thoroughly enjoyed writing. It will focus a lot on Harry helping Ginny recover from the Chamber as well as a little adventure in Egypt!_


	10. Chapter 10: Recovery in Egypt

Chapter 10: Recovery in Egypt

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Since there wasn't a bunch of events from the books that I had to work in I was able to let my imagination loose and come up with a nice, little adventure for Harry and the others. I'll be able to get the next chapter up shortly after this, and then the updates will probably slow down a bit.

In this chapter the Weasleys win a drawing in the Daily Prophet and use the money to visit Bill in Egypt. Harry hopes to use the vacation to help Ginny recover from the events of the previous year.

As usual, thanks for all of the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys!

(None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of J.K Rowling.)

* * *

About a week after they had returned from Hogwarts, everyone was sitting around the table eating breakfast. Fred and George were going out of their way to annoy Percy, Ron was flipping through an old Quidditch magazine, and Harry was watching Ginny, who was pushing food around her plate. He had been keeping an eye on her ever since they had gotten back from Hogwarts. On the outside she was acting like her normal self, at least more-so than when she was under Tom's control, but he could tell that something was wrong.

"You know you should probably eat some breakfast Gin, it's the most important meal of the day." he mumbled to her.

She blushed slightly, but continued just pushing her food around and not eating any of it. "I'm just not that hungry." she mumbled back.

Harry was about to say something in return when the fireplace flashed green and a very excited Mr. Weasley came through.

"We did it! We won!" he exclaimed giving Mrs. Weasley a hug.

"Calm down Arthur, what is it that we won?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"You know that raffle in the Daily Prophet that we won? They announced the winner today and it's us! We won a nice pile of gold." Mr. Weasley explained.

"Oh that's wonderful, what are we going to do with it?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Yeah dad, what are we going to do with the loot?" Ron added.

"Well I was thinking, it's been awhile since we've seen Bill, and since he's not going to be able to come back and visit us this summer, why don't we go to Egypt and visit him ourselves?"

Ginny gave a squeak of excitement and Fred and George added, "That's a brilliant idea!"

"It's settled then. Pack your things, we'll be leaving in a couple of days." Mr. Weasley said.

Harry grinned. It would be exciting to visit Bill in Egypt. Plus, he hoped it would be good for Ginny. When Mr. Weasley had announced his idea to visit Bill,he had noticed Ginny's eyes light with an excitement that he hadn't seen in awhile now. He knew that Bill was her favorite brother and he hoped that he'd be able to recruit his help in getting Ginny back to normal.

* * *

They spent the next few days frantically packing and avoiding Mrs. Weasley, who had gotten it in her head that they needed to clean the house before they left. It was during one of these chores that Harry made his first attempt at talking to Ginny. Mrs. Weasley had told Ginny to go outside to degnome the yard. Seeing an opportunity to talk to Ginny alone, he volunteered to help.

He followed behind her listening to her grumbling with amusement. Degnoming the garden had always been Ginny's least favorite task. She thought the gnomes were cute and felt that tossing them over the fence was cruel.

"So mum sent you out here as well?" Ginny asked as she quietly stalked a gnome that was trying, without success, to uproot a carrot. "I swear she's gone mental. We aren't even going to be home, why clean the house?"

Harry grinned as Ginny grabbed the gnome and tossed it over the fence. At the sound of the gnomes cursing, several others poked their heads of of the ground curiously. He quickly grabbed one that had appeared near his feet and tossed it over the fence as well.

"I actually volunteered to help you. I wanted to talk to you." he responded.

Ginny sighed as she tossed another gnome. "I know you do Harry, and so does everyone else. Everyone wants to know how I'm doing and wants to tell me that what happened wasn't my fault." she said.

"That's because it isn't. You must realize that Gin." he replied.

"I keep telling myself that Harry, and I want to believe it. But deep down I can't help but think that if I hadn't been so easy to control than none of the attacks would have happened." she explained.

"You were controlled by Voldemort, one of the most powerful wizards of all time, and you fought him the entire year. That doesn't make you weak, it makes you strong." he said with exasperation.

Ginny sighed again. "I know Harry, but it's going to be awhile before I can accept that. I-I just need some time."

Harry nodded his head and decided to give up on his attempt for now. They continued getting rid of the gnomes, which were now in a frenzy, in silence.

* * *

Mrs. Weasley watched and listened to the two from the kitchen window. Their conversation sounded like it was being discussed between two adults, not almost 12 and 13-year-olds. The two had already been through so much at such a young age.

The night that Harry had saved Ginny from the Chamber, she had looked into her daughter's eyes and instead of seeing the eyes of a care free child she had seen the eyes of someone much older than her body. It had broken her heart. She remembered seeing those same eyes in Harry when he had first arrived at their home all of those years ago. They had done everything they could to give him back his childhood and restore a youthful spark to him. She liked to think to believe that they had succeeded at this, but every once and awhile she would catch him looking of blankly into the distance with that same look in his eyes.

No matter how much she hated what Harry had gone through, she was thankful that he was here. He had now met You-Know-Who three times in his life, so if anyone could relate to what Ginny was going through, he could.

When he had first joined their family, Ginny had been the one to break him out of his shell and comfort him. Now, it was Harry's turn to return the favor.

* * *

The morning that they planned to leave for Egypt was chaos, not that anyone expected anything and the twins hurried to finish their packing as Mrs. Weasley yelled at them for not doing it the night before. Harry, Ginny, and Percy sat in the living room along with an anxious-looking Mr. Weasley.

"Molly, the international portkey is going to leave in less than five minutes." he said glancing at his watch.

"Don't complain to me, complain to your three sons." Mrs. Weasley shouted as she dragged in Ron, Fred, and George.

"Alright good we're all here. Everyone grab onto the backpack (Yes of course it's the portkey Ron) and also your luggage. It leaves in 30 seconds." Mr. Weasley explained while checking his watch again.

Harry braced himself as he clutched onto the portkey and his trunk. He hated traveling by portkey almost as much as floo. He never managed to land on his feet.

Finally, after a few more seconds of waiting, he felt the familiar tug on his naval and he and the Weasley family disappeared. They reappeared on a platform in various different states. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Percy, and Fred were standing up. Harry grumbled as he got up along with Ginny, Ron, and George, who made a rude hand gesture at his twin, who was laughing at him, earning an angry look from Mrs. Weasley.

"Hullo everyone, welcome to Egypt!" A familiar voice said behind them.

Ginny squealed and rushed over and jumped into Bill's arms, causing him to laugh as he almost fell over.

"Hey there pipsqueak! I'm glad to see you too!" he said hugging her back. "I heard you had an interesting year." he said in a much quieter voice.

Ginny tensed slightly. "Please don't ask me if I'm ok, that's all anyone's been asking me." she whispered back.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Bill replied kissing her on the head.

Harry had been the only one close enough to hear their exchange and he grinned inwardly. If anyone could help Ginny, it would be Bill.

He watched as Bill greeted each member of his family. He had always gotten along well with the many different personalities of the Weasley family. Naturally, since they were closest in age, he and Charlie were pretty much best mates. He was one of the only people who was able to stand having a lengthy conversation with Percy, who had idolized him ever since he'd become Head Boy. Fred and George had a deep level of respect for Bill, as they had never been able to successfully prank him. While Ron easily beat everyone else at wizarding chess, Bill was the only one who gave him somewhat of a challenge, but even he had only won a handful of games against Ron. Ginny and Bill had always had a special bond. Probably because she was the youngest and his only sister, Bill treated her differently from everyone else and had adored her since she was born. When Harry had first arrived at the Weasleys, Bill had been the second quickest to treat him like one of their own, Ginny being the first, and Harry had always been grateful for that.

"Well if it isn't my favorite adopted brother." Bill said giving Harry a hug and ruffling his hair.

Harry grinned. "It's good to see you too Bill." he replied.

Bill lowered his voice. "I was hoping to talk to you privately later. I heard that you were involved in what happened to Ginny this year and I was hoping to get the full story."

Harry nodded. "I was actually hoping to talk to you about it anyway." he responded.

"Good, I look forward to our cat." Bill replied.

"Now everyone follow me." He said addressing to the whole group. "I'll lead you to where you'll be staying.

He led them to what appeared to be a dig site covered in tents. They walked around several dug out tenches stopped in front of two large tents.

"Here we go. Home sweet home." Bill said grinning.

"We're going to be staying in tents?" Percy asked looking extremely skeptical.

"Why don't you go inside and take a look before you judge it?" Bill replied still grinning.

So one by one the Weasleys all entered the tent. Harry gasped in amazement as he looked around at the fully furnished room that stood in front of him. No matter how long he had been in the wizarding world, it still continued to surprise him.

"This tent has three rooms, I figured Fred and George will have one, Harry and Ron another, and Percy can have the last one. The other tent has two rooms, one for you Mum and Dad, and one for Ginny." Bill explained.

"Blimey." Ron said.

"It's brilliant." the twins added.

* * *

They spent the rest of the day exploring the tents and catching up with Bill. Finally, as night time approached, Bill leaned over and whispered to Harry, "How about we take a walk?".

Harry nodded his head and followed Bill out of the tent.

"Alright, how about you start from the beginning." Bill said as they began walking around the dig site.

Harry began explaining everything that had happened the previous year, starting with their confrontation with Lucius Malfoy at Flourish and Blotts, and ending with his rescue of Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets.

"Wow." Bill said when he had finished. "It does sound like you guys had quite the adventure. I can't thank you enough for saving Ginny."

Harry shrugged. "We did what we had to do. I just wish we had done something about the diary earlier on, then we might have prevented Ginny being taken into the Chamber." he said.

"From the sound of it, it might not have been very easy to destroy that diary, even if you had tried. Your description of it reminds me of a bit of dark magic that I encountered once in a pyramid. I just can't remember what it was." Bill said.

He paused for a bit seemingly deep in thought. "Damn, it's completely slipped my mind. Anyway, you said that you wanted to talk to me as well?"

"Aye. It's about Ginny." Harry replied. "She hasn't been herself since the Chamber and I know that she's blaming herself for what happened. I was hoping that maybe you could talk to her about it."

Bill nodded. "Alright I'll talk to her, but I think this might be something she'll have to realize herself. You really care for her don't you?"

"Of course I do. She's my closest friend. I care about her more than anything." Harry replied.

"And you just want to be friends with her? Nothing more?" Bill asked waggling his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.

Bill just kept grinning. "Oh nothing. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually.

Everyone was asleep when they arrived back at the tent. Bill bade Harry goodnight and headed back to his own tent. Harry crept to his room and climbed into his bed, careful not to wake Ron. He lay awake pondering what Bill had said. What did he mean by wanting to be more than friends with Ginny? Did he mean like, girlfriend and boyfriend?

He had never really thought of having a girlfriend. The thought of asking a girl on a date sounded terrifying. But, if he did get a girlfriend, he figured he wouldn't mind her to be Ginny. He thought about Ginny's long, silky, red hair and chocolate brown eyes and he felt a strange fluttering in his stomach.

"No, that wouldn't be bad at all." He thought as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

He woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon and eggs. He grinned when he heard Ron shout, "breakfast!" and dash out of his bed. He groggily got out of bed and followed him downstairs to see Mrs. Weasley preparing breakfast. He noticed Ginny next to her and once again felt the strange fluttering in his stomach. What was going on with him? Was he sick?

Mrs. Weasley noticed them coming down the stairs. "Good morning boys. I'll have breakfast ready shortly."

Ginny turned and when she saw them coming down the stairs she went over and gave Harry their usual morning hug. As he hugged her he breathed in, Ginny smelt of Strawberries and chocolate and a scent that was just… Ginny. He felt the fluttering in his stomach worsen and he ended the hug rather quickly.

"Morning Gin." he mumbled without making eye contact as he sat down at the table.

Ginny looked at him oddly before shrugging and going back to helping Mrs. Weasley with breakfast.

Bill grinned from behind his cup of coffee as he watched harry and Ginny's interaction. It seemed that his talk with Harry the night before had had an affect on him.

"So what are we going to do today Bill?" Fred asked.

"Yeah what are you going to show us?" George added.

Bill grinned before responding. "I was thinking I'd show you some of the pyramids and dig sites."

* * *

That's how they spent the next few weeks. They explored many different parts of Egypt. Pyramids, the sphinx, dig sites, and anything else that could be found in Egypt. They even spent a few days in the wizarding district of Egypt.

Throughout the whole time Bill kept a close eye on Harry, Ron, and Ginny. The three seemed to be having a good time, but he noticed that something was off about the three, which he assumed was due to the events that had occurred at the end of their school year. He tried to think of a way to help the three and finally an opportunity presented itself one day.

One of his superiors told him hat they had discovered a new antechamber that they needed him to look through. It was small, so they didn't expect there to be any problems, but they wanted a curse breaker to look through it just in case. Bill figured that a non life-threatening adventure just might help the three.

So, early the next morning he woke them up just as the sun began rising in the morning, before anyone else had woken up.

"Erg… Wazamater? Ron groaned as he woke up.

"Shhh!" Bill hushed.

After he had woken up the three he gathered them outside.

"What's going on Bill?" Harry yawned.

"I've got a bit of a surprise for you three, but you can't tell mum or dad about it."

This seemed to get the three's attention. "What's the surprise?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"Just follow me and I'll show you." He responded as he led them to the pyramid he had been assigned to.

Ron complained when they arrived and he led them inside. "You already showed us this Pyramid Bill, there wasn't much in it."

"That's where you're wrong Ron, yesterday they discovered a small antechamber that no one had discovered yet. They want me to check it out so I decided to bring you along since there shouldn't be much danger." Bill explained.

They all grinned excitedly and Harry said, "Wicked!".

Bill chuckled at their excitement. "Right, now I'm going to need you to do EXACTLY as I say, and you should keep your wands out just in case."

They nodded and drew their wands as they followed Bill through the new hole in the wall that none of them had noticed before. Bill allowed Harry and Ginny to take the lead while he and Ron covered their backs. He began muttering spells and waving his wand around the passageway, trying to detect any traces of magic that might indicate a curse.

Suddenly he detected a surge of magic right in front of them and he shouted, "Everyone get back!" But it was too late. A stone wall had sprung up from the floor, separating Harry and Ginny from him and Ron.

Bill swore, he should have detected the trap earlier. He ran his wand over the new wall in front of him and swore again. It was heavily fortified with enchantments.

He turned to Ron, who was staring at the wall with wide eyes muttering "Not again."

He gently grabbed Ron's shoulder. "Ron, are you ok?"

Ron just shook his head. "It's just like the chamber, I got separated from Harry and Ginny and left behind. There was noting I could do to help."

Bill could see the panic in his eyes so he knelt down in front of him. "This isn't the Chamber Ron, this is just a small trap. And you can help this time, have you learned the spell _Finite Incantatem_?" 

Ron nodded his head.

"Good, I want you to begin casting it on the wall." he explained.

As he and Ron began working on the wall Bill could only hope that Harry and Ginny were alright on the other side.

* * *

When Harry had heard Bill yell at them to get back he had turned around to see a wall rising from the floor. It rose quickly and cut him and Ginny off from Bill and Ron. He quickly turned to make sure Ginny was alright. Her eyes had gone wide and she was extremely pale. She began hammering her fists against the wall and looking around frantically for an exit.

Harry realized that Ginny was having a panic attack, being trapped behind the wall probably reminded her of being in the Chamber. He quickly collected her in his arms before she hurt herself.

"Shh Ginny shh, everything is going to be alright. Bill will get us out of here." he said calmly.

At first Ginny struggled against him, but she eventually calmed down. He lot go of her and she gave him a small smile. "Thanks Harry, for a second it felt like I was back in the Chamber."

Harry nodded. "You're Welcome. Now, what do you think we should do?" he asked.

"Well we could wait here for Bill to get through the wall, or… we could keep exploring." Ginny said with an adventurous look in her eye.

Harry laughed. "Now there's the adventurous girl that befriended me all those years ago. I was wondering where she had gone."

Ginny just grinned back at him and the two began moving along the passageway. It opened up into a small room, that Harry assume was the main chamber of the passageway. The edges were lined with pottery and jewelry. The walls were covered with hieroglyphs that began glowing as soon as they entered the room.

"Harry, what's going on?" Ginny asked.

Harry didn't answer, he was too busy staring at the coffin in the center of the room. Assign as the hieroglyphs had began glowing something in the coffin had started stirring.

Suddenly all of the glyphs went back to normal and a guttural moan came from the coffin. Harry and Ginny watched in horror as a mummy emerged from it.

Jumping into action, Harry stepped in front of Ginny and aimed his wand at the mummy, casting the first spell that came to mind. " _Expelliarmus_!"

The red bolt hit the mummy straight in the face, but all it did was tear off the linen and reveal it's decaying face. Suddenly, the hieroglyphs began glowing again and the mummy's face slowly began morphing into the face of Tom Riddle.

Harry felt Ginny begin to tremble behind him. He stayed in front of her sill aiming his wand at the mummy, but he couldn't think of what to do, his mind had gone completely blank. Suddenly he felt Ginny move from behind him. She stood up next to him, aiming her wand at the mummy with a fire in her eyes. She silently conjured the blue flames that he had seen Hermione make countless times.

The flames engulfed the mummy and it let out a piercing scream as it burned. When the flames finally disappeared, all that was left was a pile of ash and a cross-shaped amulet. Ginny shuddered a bit and quickly buried her face in Harry's shoulder. She didn't cry, she just released a long sigh of relief.

They suddenly heard footsteps behind them and they turned to see Bill and Ron using toward them.

"Are you two ok?" Bill asked anxiously when he got to them.

Ginny nodded her head and jumped into Bill's arms.

"What happened here?" Bill asked indicating the pile of ash in front of the empty coffin.

Harry quickly explained how the mummy had awoken and turned into Tom Riddle's face when he'd attempted to stop it. "I reckon Ginny save us with the blue flames she conjured." He finished.

"Well I couldn't let you save my life again Potter. Now we're even." Ginny said from Bill's arms while sticking her tongue out at him.

Harry laughed, glad to see that the Riddle-mummy hadn't seemed to negatively affect her.

"Whey do you reckon the mummy grew Tom's face?" Ron asked giving the ash pile a critical eye.

"I think I can answer that." Bill said. "The Egyptians like to cast a spell on the less important mummies that caused them to turn your worst fear if your'e near it. It was meant to ward off tomb raiders. If there weren't enough mummies than they would often add a few boggarts." he explained.

"What's a boggart?" Harry asked.

"It's a magical creature that does basically the same thing. You'll probably learn about them during your third year." Bill responded.

Harry and Ron nodded.

Bill noticed the amulet that was lying in the ash pile. He waved his wand over it a few times before he reached down and pocketed it.

"Well it looks like you guys have done my job for me. Now I think we should head back to the tents before mum or dad miss you.

As they made their way back to the tents a thought crossed Harry's mind. "Hey Bill, are we going to get into trouble for using underage magic?" he asked.

Bill shook his head. "No. The ministry here in Egypt doesn't really have any laws against underage magic. As long s you don't use it in front of muggles you should be fine." he explained.

"Wicked." Ron said.

Bill seemed to think about what he's said. "You know it would probably be best if you didn't tell that to Fred or George."

Everyone chuckled in agreement.

* * *

They soon arrived back at the tents. Harry and Ron slipped back into their tent, hoping to catch a few more hours of sleep before everyone woke up. Bill carried Ginny to her room and set her on her bed. He then pulled up a chair and looked Ginny in the eyes.

Ginny sighed. "I was wondering when this would happen."

Bill chuckled. "C'mon Ginny. You were possessed by the teenage memory of Lord Voldemort himself, there's no way I'm not going to at least have one conversation with you about it. I had hoped this little adventure might help, but now I'm worried that I might have made things worse." he said as he slumped back into his chair.

"Actually I think fighting that mummy helped. Kind of like facing your fears, you know? Before todayI spent a lot of my time feeling like Tom was still with me, taunting me. Now that feeling's gone. I think I'll always feel somewhat responsible for what happened, but now that I've gotten over my fear I think I can begin to accept that it was Tim that did it, not me." Ginny explained.

Bill gazed at Ginny for a few seconds. "You've grown up." he said simply.

Ginny wearily nodded her head. "The Chamber changed me Bill. I'm not the little girl that everyone used to know. You and Harry are the only ones who seem to have realized that. With everyone else it's like they're walking on eggshells around me."

Bill patted her shoulder. "Give them time, hopefully they will realize how you've changed."

They both sat in silence for a few seconds. Bill pulled out the amulet that he had picked out of the mummies remains. Ginny watched curiously as he ran his wand over it muttering a few spells. Finally he conjured a gold, chain necklace that he attached the amulet to.

"This is an Ankh amulet. In ancient Egypt it symbolized life." He explained as he placed the chain around her neck. "You can let it remind you that even after what you went through, you survived and still have your life to live."

Ginny got a bit teary-eyed and flung her arms around Bill's neck. "Thank you." she said.

"You're Welcome." he replied as he hugged her back.

When Ginny pulled back Bill added. "I also put a small enchantment on it. It's meant to ward off evil spirits."

Ginny gazed happily at the amulet. "I'll never take it off." she murmured.

"Good." Bill said. "Now, there is one more thing that I want to talk to you about." he added.

"What's that?" she asked curiously.

"Harry." he said.

"What about him?" she asked.

"I'm just hurt that you never told me that you had fallen so incredibly hard for someone." he said grinning.

"W-What are you talking about? Harry and I we're-we're just friends." She replied blushing slightly.

"Uh-huh, you sure have me convinced." Bill replied still grinning.

"Alright I have feelings for him, but it doesn't matter. Harry and I are friends and that's all he sees me as." Ginny pouted.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I had a little talk with Harry when you first arrived. Have you noticed that he's been acting a bit odd lately?" he asked.

Ginny thought about it, and she realized that he had in fact been acting differently. He had seemed almost… uncomfortable around her. And yet he had been giving her a lot more hugs than he usually did.

Bill laughed. "I can see you've noticed it as well." After I had that chat with Harry I think he might have realized he's had feelings for you for awhile now." he explained.

"You really think so?" she asked.

Bill nodded. "Aye. But don't expect much from him, he is a teenage boy after all. Everyone else can tell that you two were made for each other, but he'll probably be the last to realize it."

Ginny nodded and gave a loud yawn.

Bill glanced down at his watch. "You should get some sleep, it'll probably be an hour still before mum wakes everyone up."

Ginny pulled her covers over her and lied down. As Bill got up to leave the room she turned to him.

"Bill?" she asked.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Thanks…thanks for everything." she said.

Bill smiled. "Anytime Ginny."

* * *

The rest of the summer seemed to go by in a blur. The Weasleys were thrilled to see that Ginny was back to her normal, cheerful self. Harry continued to act oddly around Ginny, something that didn't go unnoticed by Mrs. Weasley, who Bill caught planning wedding arrangements for the two.

They explored the rest of Egypt. When Percy asked why they didn't go to the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the seven wonders of the world, Bill explained that, while muggles were allowed to see it, no wizards dared go near it. There was a great darkness about it that even skilled curse breakers like him didn't approach. Harry, Ginny, and Ron, who had become extremely suspicious of pyramid, were fine with ignoring this one.

Finally the day came for them to return home. Good-byes were exchanged between Bill and his family. Ginny jumped into his arms again, and Bill told her to write to him immediately if anything changed between her and that special someone.

Harry's brow furrowed when he heard this and he saw Ginny nod, blushing slightly. Who was Ginny's "special someone"?

Bill smirked a bit when he saw Harry's expression. He put Ginny down and walked over and patted Harry on the shoulder.

"You'll look after Ginny for me?" he asked. "Always." Harry replied shaking Bill's hand.

"Two minutes!" Mr. Weasley said, indicating the amount of time left until the portkey left.

They all put their hands on the mini Egyptian statue, a souvenir that they had gotten and had turned into a portkey. Two minutes later Harry felt a pull at his naval and they were pulled from Egypt. A few moments later the Weasleys and all their luggage appeared in the Leaky Cauldron. They had decided to spend their final day there before everyone left for Hogwarts.

Harry noticed a young, bushy haired witch getting up from one of the tables and walking towards them.

"Hermione!" Ron said excitedly from next to Harry. He rushed forward and hugged her. Hermione hugged him back looking both surprised and pleased. Harry and Ginny snickered. Ron seemed to realize what he had just done because his ears started turning red and he ended the hug awkwardly.

"Hullo Hermione." Harry said as both he and Ginny gave her a hug.

"Hello guys, i missed you so much this summer. How was Egypt? I bet it was fascinating…" Hermione began bombarding them with questions, but she was soon cut off.

"Hermione!" the twins said rushing over and each giving her an enthusiastic hug, mimicking Ron.

"So good to see you!" Fred said.

"Thrilled we are!" George added.

"But not quite as thrilled as Ronniekins it seems." Fred continued.

"He just isn't the same without you around." said George.

"Like peas in a pod you two are, almost like Harry and Ginny over there." Fred finished.

The two then promptly bowed and wandered off whistling, leaving Hermione and Ginny giggling and Harry and Ron looking very confused.

* * *

They spent the day buying their school supplies and enjoying the many shops of Diagon Alley. Hermione had to practically drag Harry, Ginny, and Ron away from the Quidditch shop where they had been staring at the new Firebolt.

Likewise, they had to stop Hermione from buying every book in Flourish and Blotts a few minutes later.

Their final stop was the Magical Menagerie. Ron wanted to have Scabbers looked at, he had been looking pretty under the weather ever since Egypt. Hermione was looking to get an owl of her own. While Ron was talking to the witch at the counter and Hermione was looking around, Harry and Ginny each bought supplies for their own pets.

When they left the shop Ron and Hermione were bickering about Hermione's choice in pet: Crookshanks. Harry and Ginny trailed behind them.

"They went most of the day without fighting. I'd kind of hoped that they'd grown out of it." Harry muttered to Ginny, causing her to giggle.

"After the greeting that Ron gave her I kind of hoped so also. I guess we're doomed to another year of those two." Ginny replied.

Harry groaned slightly in annoyance. As they continued walking, Harry happened to glance to his right into a side alley and he felt his heart skip a beat. Standing at the end of the alley, staring right back at him, was a massive, black dog.

"Harry?" What are you doing? Is something wrong?" Ginny asked Harry, who had come to a complete stop.

Harry glanced at Ginny and then looked back at the dog, but it had disappeared. "No. It's noting. I must just be seeing things." he replied as he started walking again.

Ginny gave him an odd look but didn't press him.

* * *

That night they all had a massive metal the Leaky Cauldron before everyone went off to their rooms to get ready for the following day. Ginny was putting her new supplies into her trunk when Hermione came into the room and plopped down on the bed.

"Alright Ginny, I want you to tell me all about Egypt." she said.

Ginny grinned and began filling her in on everything that had happened. She saved their adventure in the pyramid for last and enjoyed the shocked look that Hermione got on her face.

"You fought a mummy?!" she exclaimed causing Ginny to laugh.

"We did. I actually have you to thank for defeating it. I conjured those blue flames that you always make. Worked like a charm!" she explained.

"Can I see the amulet?" Hermione asked.

Ginny nodded and pulled the amulet out from underneath her shirt. Like she had promised Bill, she hadn't ever take it off. "Bill enchanted it to ward off evil spirits." she explained as Hermione looked at it.

"It's fascinating! You realize that it must be thousands of years old?" Hermione asked.

Ginny nodded as she put the amulet back underneath her shirt.

"Well it sounds like you guys had quite the adventure. Now were their any developments between you and our dark haired friend?" Hermione asked grinning. "I noticed he was acting a bit odd around you today."

Ginny blushed a bit. "Harry was great over the summer. He and Bill were hell bent on helping me get over what happened last year. I complained the entire time, but I'm grateful to both of them." Ginny explained.

"Anything else?" Hermione pushed. "That doesn't explain they way Harry's been acting around you."

Ginny blushed a bit more. "Bill told me that when we first arrived he had a talk with Harry about what happened in the Chamber. He said when they were done talking about that he had asked Harry about he and I's relationship."

Hermione giggled. "What did he say?"

"Bill says that he said we were just good friends, but the next day was when Harry started acting odd around me. Bill thinks he's starting to realize that he has feelings for me." Ginny finished.

"Oh Ginny I'm so happy for you!" Hermione exclaimed, causing her to blush even more.

"What about you?" Ginny asked. "Ron seemed pretty happy to see you this morning."

Now it was Hermione's turn to blush. "He did, didn't he?"

Ginny giggled. "Yeah he did. I wonder if maybe he's starting to realize his feelings for you as well." she pondered.

"Oh I hope so." Hermione said.

They suddenly heard a knock on their door and Harry's voice came from the other side. "Ginny? Can I talk to you?" he asked.

"Come on in Harry." Ginny called.

Harry walked into the room and Hermione got up to leave. "I'll go check to make sure that Ron is packed for tomorrow." she said.

"That's probably a good idea." Harry said. "He hadn't even started when I left the room."

Hermione nodded a left, giving Ginny a quick wink before closing the door behind her.

Harry sat down next to Ginny. "Why are you blushing?" he asked.

"Oh. Hermione and I were just talking about girl stuff." She explained. "Anyway, what's up Harry?"

Harry sighed. "I just overheard your mum and dad arguing downstairs about me." he said.

"What about you?" she asked concerned.

"It's about Sirius Black. You know how he escaped?" he asked.

Ginny nodded. The news had even reached the Egyptian wizarding papers.

"Well evidently the ministry thinks that he's after me. They think that he thinks that by killing me, he can bring Voldemort back." he explained.

Ginny paled and she pulled Harry into a hug. "You'll be fine thought right? I mean, Dumbledore won't let anything happen while he's there."

Harry nodded. "As long as Dumbledore is around I'll be fine."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Are you going to tell Ron and Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah I'll tell them tomorrow. I just wanted you to know first, and I needed to tell someone or I probably would've been awake all night." he replied.

A few minutes later Hermione returned looking very annoyed. "That boy is impossible! Somehow he managed to get all of his things strewn around your room in one day."

She slumped onto her bed and Crookshanks jumped onto her lap purring. Crookshanks and Midnight had taken an instant liking to each other and the two had spent the night prowling around the Leaky Cauldron together.

Harry got up and stretched. "Well I'm going to get to bed. I'll see you two in the morning."

"Goodnight Harry." Ginny and Hermione said as he left the room.

Hermione gave Ginny a questioning look, but Ginny just shook her head. Harry and told her about Sirius in confidence, she wouldn't betray him.

Hermione nodded her head in understanding and the two went to bed. Ginny sighed into her pillow. Why couldn't Harry ever have a normal school year?


	11. Chapter 11: Rumors

Chapter 11: Rumors

Alright this is the last chapter that I finished back during Winter break. After this the updates will probably slow down as I've had less time to write.

In this chapter Harry and Ginny start off their new school year with a rumor about them spreading through Hogwarts. While the rumor isn't nearly as bad as the one from Harry's previous year where everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin, it still causes him a decent amount of embarrassment.

As usual, thanks for all of the reviews and I hope everyone enjoys!

(None of these characters belong to me, they are the property of J.K Rowling.)

* * *

The following morning went surprisingly smooth. Since everyone was already packed from their trip to Egypt they didn't have to worry about any last minute packing. The ministry had supplied with a couple of ministry cars, which Harry now knew were because of him. Because of all of this they arrived at the train with plenty of time to spare.

"Not being stopped at the barrier by a house elf also helped." Harry thought as he and Ginny passed through the barrier without incident.

While everyone else was boarding the train, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside to tell him about Sirius. Harry had to awkwardly tell him that he had overheard Mrs. Weasley and his argument and that he wasn't scared.

After making Harry swear that he wouldn't go looking for Black, Mr. Weasley let him go and Harry got onto the train with Ginny, who'd been waiting for him. They made their way through the train and found the compartment that Ron and Hermione were staying in. There was a worn-looking man that was sitting asleep opposite of them.

Harry eyed the man as he sat down next to him. Ginny entered the compartment and when she saw that there wasn't any room for her she just shrugged and sat on Harry's lap. She grinned when Harry jerked a bit at the contact and his breath hitched in his throat. She looked across from her to see Ron giving her an odd look and Hermione trying to surprise giggle. She just shrugged at them and leaned back against Harry, who seemed distinctly uncomfortable.

There were several moments of awkward silence before Ginny decided to break it. "Harry, wasn't there something that you wanted to tell Ron and Hermione?" she asked causing him to break out of whatever thoughts he was having and focus on the two sitting opposite of him.

"Er… right. Ron and Hermione, there's something that I need to tell you that I discovered yesterday." he began.

Ginny listened to Harry recount the ministry's suspicions that Black was after him as she comfortably leaned against him. He really was quite comfortable. His reaction to her sitting on him had piqued her interest. Who knows? Maybe Bill was right and he was starting to have feelings for her.

They spent the next few hours discussing Sirius Black and the coming year at Hogwarts. During this Draco Malfoy and his fellow Slytherins decided to pay their usual visit.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Malfoy said eyeing Harry and Ginny.

"Do you want something Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"No, I can see that you're already… occupied." he responded sneering.

He left them with Crabbe and Goyle cackling behind them.

"What do you suppose that was about?" Harry asked.

Ron just shrugged. "Don't know mate, but with Malfoy it can never be good."

Harry noticed Hermione staring at where Draco had been with a worried expression, but whatever was on her mind she chose not to say.

After that they rode on the train in relative silence. Ginny had fallen asleep on Harry's lap with her head on his chest. Harry found her rhythmic inhaling and exhaling rather soothing. He also thought she looked cute when she was asleep, not that he would admit that to anyone. Hermione was watching Harry and Ginny in amusement and almost a hint of jealousy, and Ron was staring out the window.

"We must be nearly there." he complained.

Almost as soon as he said this, the train began to slow.

"We can't be there yet." Hermione said checking her watch.

"So why are we stopping? Harry asked.

Ginny shifted on Harry and gazed around blearily. "What's going on?" she asked.

Suddenly, without warning, all of the lights on the train shut off. The train quickly descended into panicked chaos. At some point Neville joined them in the compartment. All of the noise must have woken up Professor Lupin, as he suddenly said, "Quiet!", and produced a handful of flames.

He approached the door and as soon as he opened it a dark, hooded figure stood in the entrance. The temperature of the compartment immediately began dropping. Harry felt the cold seep into not only the room, but into his body. He jerked when he heard a woman start screaming in his head.

Suddenly, he noticed Ginny shaking on him and he instinctually wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. He immediately felt some of the cold go away and the screaming ceased. Ginny stopped shaking as much and turned her head away from the creature and into Harry's chest.

"None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks." Lupin said as he shot something silvery out of his wand.

The creature turned and left the room. Instantly warmth returned to the compartment. Shortly later the lights came back on and the train started moving again, causing everyone to sigh with relief. Professor Lupin took out a large slab of chocolate and began passing pieces to them. Harry took a bite of the chocolate and found that it made him feel a lot better.

"What was that thing?" he asked.

Lupin was crumbling the chocolate wrapper. "A dementor of Azkaban." he explained. "Everyone eat the chocolate, it'll help. I'm going to go talk to the driver." he said as he got up and left.

Nobody said anything, and Ginny continued snuggling into Harry.

Shortly later Lupin returned. "We'll be arriving at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Is everyone alright?" he asked.

They all nodded in the affirmative and were glad to know that they would be arriving at Hogwarts soon.

* * *

"So what did Professor McGonagall want?" Harry asked as Hermione sat down in the spot that Ron had saved for her.

"Oh nothing, it was just about all of the classes that I'm taking." Hermione explained as she began putting food on her plate.

While everyone was eating Harry was interrupted by the sound of giggling coming from nearby. He looked up to see Lavender and Parvati looking at him and giggling.

Ron had noticed as well and turned to the two girls. "What are you two on about?" he asked.

Lavender stopped giggling. "So are you ok with it Ron?" she asked.

"Ok with what?" Ron responded looking confused.

"With Harry dating your sister of course." Parvati said.

Ron's mouth opened and closed several times before looking at Harry. "What?" he questioned.

Harry however had the same gobsmacked expression on his face. "What are you two talking about?" he asked.

"Please Harry, it's the talk of the school. There's no denying it." Parvati replied.

Harry turned to Ginny who was grinning slightly in amusement.

"I didn't realize we were dating. Is there something you haven't told me?" he asked causing her to giggle slightly.

"Don't worry Harry, if we start dating you'll be the first person I'll tell." she replied.

"Thats good to here." he said before turning back to the table.

Ron had a somewhat relieved expression on his face, and Lavender and Parvati looked unconvinced, but Harry didn't push the subject. He glanced over at the Slytherin table and noticed Malfoy staring at him smirking.

He leaned over to Ginny. "I'm thinking Malfoy might be the one who started this rumor about us." he whispered.

"Oh? I guess he did see me sitting on you. I'm sorry, if I'd known it would cause trouble I wouldn't have…"

"No!" Harry interrupted her causing her to give him an odd look. "I mean… er… it's fine. I don't want you to feel bad it was… um… nice. Besides, of all the rumors Malfoy has spread about me, this one really isn't that bad." he finished awkwardly.

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed me sitting on your lap." she giggled before going back to eating.

* * *

Throughout the rest of the night Harry and Ginny had to deal with people asking/congratulating them on their relationship. No matter how annoying it was, it did distract Harry enough for him to forget about the dementors. At least until he went to bed that night. He spent over an hour tossing and turning in his bed. Try as he might though, he just couldn't get to sleep. The woman's screams continued to echo through his head and he couldn't help but think that they sounded oddly familiar.

Finally he gave up and tossed his sheets off of him. He headed down to the common room hoping to calm his mind a bit by sitting in front of the fire. When he got there, however, he realized that someone was already there.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Ginny asked as he approached her.

"No. That damn dementor really did a number on me." he said as he sat down next to her.

"Me too." she said quietly. "It made me think of memories that I'd spent all summer trying to forget. About… Tom and the Chamber." she explained shivering.

Harry put an arm around her and she leaned into him. They sat in front of the fire in silence for several minutes before Harry finally spoke.

"I heard my mum." he said almost to himself.

He hadn't realized it until now, but now that he'd spoken it, he knew that it was true. Ginny looked at him questionably so he continued.

"From the night that Voldemort killed her. I heard her screams right before she died." Harry paused but Ginny didn't say anything, She could tell he needed to get this off of his chest.

"At first I recognized the scream, but I didn't know who's it was. I just now remembered where I'd heard it before. Back before my first year I used to have nightmares that would end with a flash of green light, and occasionally a woman's screams. they were my mum's." Harry finished and they sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"I think." Ginny began. "That the reason the dementor affected us so much is because we've both had to deal with terrible things. You've faced Tom three times now, and I was possessed by him. Those aren't things you forget, just grow stronger from." Ginny finished.

"We need each other Gin. When that dementor came. If you hadn't been there I think I would've passed out.I just felt so could inside, but you brought warmth." he explained.

"You did the same for me." she responded.

They sat like that for the rest of the night, with Harry's arm around Ginny and her head resting on his shoulder.

* * *

"Harry, Harry wake up." A voice said.

"Just five more minutes." he mumbled.

"Harry now!"

His head shot up. He looked around and realized that he was still in the common room. He and Ginny must have fallen asleep.

"Good, now help me get Ginny up." Hermione said.

He looked next to him and realized that Ginny was still asleep, snuggled into him.

"Ginny." he whispered shaking her.

He wasn't surprised when she didn't answer. It was notoriously hard to wake her up in the morning. Changing tactics he reached down and tickled her side. She gave a loud squeak and jumped up. When she realized what had happened she punched Harry in the arm.

"Prat." she mumbled.

Harry realized that Hermione was still standing there with her arms crossed.

"Er… thanks for waking us up." he said awkwardly.

She glared at him for a few seconds before saying, "You realize that you two have pretty much confirmed the rumor that Draco started right?"

Ginny sighed. "Let them think what they want Hermione. I'm going to shower." she left them and headed up to her room.

"So why were you tow sleeping together next to the fire anyway?" Hermione asked.

"Neither of us could get t sleep last night because of that dementor. It brought up some pretty bad memories. We must have fallen asleep while talking to each other." he explained.

"Well try to be a little more careful for now on. I'm sure half of the school knows about this by now." Hermione said.

Unfortunately she was right. As Harry walked with Ginny through the Great Hall many people pointed at them and they were surrounded by giggles. Ginny just ignored it, but Harry couldn't help and sigh. He really hated just how efficient the rumor mill at Hogwarts was.

* * *

"So she predicted that you're going to die?" Ginny asked as they ate lunch later that day.

He nodded his head. "yeah she made a big deal about it. McGonagall says that she does this to a different student every year thought." he explained.

"Still, the Grim isn't something to joke about." Ron said. "You haven't seen any big, black dogs lately, have you Harry?"

Harry thought back to Diagon Alley. "Yeah I have actually. I saw one the day we went to Diagon Alley.

Ron stared at him with wide eyes.

"Probably just a stray." Hermione commented.

"Ron looked outraged at this. "Seeing a Grim. It's-It's really bad! My Uncle Bilius saw one and he died 24 hours later!" Ron said.

Ginny sighed at this. "Ron, Uncle Bilius was really old when that happened. He was seeing Grims wherever he went. It was just a coincidence that he died after claiming to have seen one." she explained.

"Plus, it's been days since I saw that dog. Well over 24 hours. I think I'll be fine Ron." Harry reassured his friend.

Ron looked far from reassured, but he didn't pursue the topic.

* * *

After lunch they had Hagrid's first class of the year. It would have been a good class if Draco hadn't insulted the hippogriff Buckbean and gotten his arm clawed. Harry knew that Draco would milk the injury for all it's worth and try to get Hagrid blamed for it in the process.

This is why the four decided to visit him that night. They looked in the hut and could tell that Hagrid had been drinking. After they had convinced Hagrid that it was Malfoy's fault and not his Hagrid seemed to realize that Harry was out after dark. He quickly ushered the out of his hut and towards the castle. As they were walking Hagrid suddenly chuckled and a grin spread across his face.

"Oh, I almost forgot to congratulate you an' Ginny here on yer relationship."

Harry and Ginny both went slightly red, Ron snorted, and hermione unsuccessfully tried to cover a giggle.

"We, er, we're not in a relationship Hagrid. That's just a rumor Malfoy started." Harry said causing Hagrid to chuckle again.

"I know, I was jus messing with ya. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if you two were together. You'd make a good couple." Hagrid said.

This caused Harry and Ginny to blush even more. Harry was thankful that it was dark out so that no one could see just how red his face had gotten.

When they got to the castle Hagrid bid them goodnight and instructed them to go straight to their common room. The awkward silence still hadn't lifted when they got to the common room so they all bid each other goodnight and went to their rooms.

After getting into bed Harry stared up at the top of his four-poster thinking. Normally a rumor started by Malfoy or anyone else about him wouldn't bug him because it was just that: a rumor. And while this current rumor itself wasn't annoying him, peoples reactions to it were confusing him. He was used to people pointing, laughing, or mocking him because of one thing or another.

What was odd about this time was that no one really seemed hat surprised. He'd had several students tell him that they had figured it was only a matter of time before he and Ginny got together. Even Hagrid had just said that they would make a good couple. How could people he barely know think that there could be something between him and Ginny when he wasn't even sure himself?

He was momentarily distracted by thoughts of her long, strawberry-scented hair and chocolate-brown eyes. He shook himself. No. Ginny was his closes friend and also his best mate's sister. he wasn't going to jeopardize all of that just to get a girlfriend.

"Besides." He reasoned with himself. "I'm only 13m I have plenty of time to worry about getting a girlfriend."

With that thought he rolled over and let sleep take him. His dreams, however, were haunted by thoughts of Ginny Weasley.

* * *

Several days passed and Harry and the others finally had their first Defense Against he Dark Arts class with Professor Lupin. His classes had been the talk of the school and Harry had been highly anticipating it.

However, at the end of the class he was more than slightly disappointed. It had been a great class, probably one of the best DADA classes he'd ever had, but why hadn't Professor Lupin let him face the boggart? Had he thought that he was to weak to face it? He wasn't arrogant, but he figure that after facing Voldemort three times now he'd be able to beat one boggart.

Ginny tried to comfort him at lunch by saying that she was sure that Professor Lupin had a perfectly good reason for not letting Harry face it, but he didn't really pat attention to her She walked off to her next class with a huff and he immediately felt bad for ignoring her. He knew that she had just been trying to make him feel better, so he resolved to apologize to her that night at dinner.

However, when he sat down at the table he saw that she wasn't there. He cautiously turned to Collin. He hadn't been nearly as bad as he had been the previous year, but he didn't want to encourage anything.

"Hey Collin, you just had class with Ginny right? Do you know where she is?" he asked.

Collin looked a bit upset. "She ran up to her room after Professor Lupin's class. I don't blame her." He explained.

"Why? What happened?" Harry asked concerned.

"Well, Professor Lupin faced us al against the boggart just like he did with you third years. When it was Ginny's turn she stepped in front of the closet. The boggart immediately turned into, well, you. Except you were pretty dead and had a massive wound in you arm, looked like it was from a giant fang, and it was still bleeding. Ginny went pale and started shaking. Professor Lupin quickly got rid of the boggart and ended the class, but Ginny rushed out of the room before anyone could say anything to her." Collin recounted.

"I'd better go talk to her." Harry said while starting to get up.

"No Harry, I will." Hermione said stopping him.

He started to protest, but she silenced him. "After what she saw I don't think seeing you will be good for her, plus you won't be able to get up to her room, only girls are allowed." she explained before walking out of the Great Hall.

Harry exchanged a worried look with Ron before going back to eating. He hoped that Hermione would be able to help Ginny.

* * *

Hermione made her way through the portrait hole and up to the second year girl's dormitories. When she looked through the doorway she saw Ginny sitting on her bed looking through a photo album. Her eyes were still red from crying.

She quietly walked over and sat next to Ginny on her bed. She glanced at the picture that Ginny was looking at and saw that it was a recent photo of her and Harry standing in front of a pyramid in Egypt, arm in arm.

"How are you doing?" she asked quietly, figuring she might as well start there.

Ginny didn't respond at first, but she eventually started talking.

"When Professor Lupin told us to think of our worst fears my immediate thought was of Tom. I figured I could just give him a clown face or something to make him less menacing, you know?" But when it was my turn it…it turned into Harry. Or at least what Harry would've looked life if Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, hadn't been there.

Did he ever tell you the full story of what happened in the Chamber? How he'd almost died? When he stabbed that bloody basilisk one of it's fangs stabbed into his arms. If Fawkes hadn't been there to heal the wound he-he would've died, and it would've been my fault. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself." she finished and clutched the album to her chest as tears once again flowed down her face.

Hermione put a comforting arm around her. "But that didn't happen, and that's all that matters. Harry is alive and concerned about you." she said soothingly.

"I-I think I love him." Ginny said in a whisper.

"You… really?" Hermione asked surprised.

Ginny nodded. "I know that I'm only twelve, but I don't think that my feelings for him are just a silly crush. After last year I don't think I'll ever have time for a silly crush again. Harry saved me, not only from Tom but from my own guilt, and he means the world to me. I just don't think that he shares my feelings. Bill gave me hope, but now I'm not sure. All these rumors about us being in a relationship, I don't deny them because I can't help but enjoy hearing people think that we're together. Harry on the other hand embarrassedly denies them. If he did like me than why would he be so embarrassed at the thought of us being together." Ginny rambled.

Hermione sighed. It seemed that ginny and had had a lot on her mind recently.

"I think that the reason that Harry is so embarrassed is because he's a thirteen-year-old boy. He's just beginning to notice girls and is still uncomfortable with the idea of dating. Boys his age are pretty thick, I don't think Ron has even realized that I'm a girl yet."

Ginny laughed halfheartedly at this.

"Plus you know Harry." Hermione continued. "He hates being the center of attention. But I've seen the way he looks and acts around you, and I'm certain that he has feelings for you. Just give him time, if you really do love him than he's worth waiting for." Hermione finished.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes and Hermione thought back on what she had just said. She realized that she'd been partially talking to herself about Ron as well as giving Ginny advice.

Eventually Ginny reached forward and hugged Her.

"Thank you Hermione, I needed to hear that. And I'm sure everything you said about Harry is also true about Ron." she said.

Hermione hugged her back. "I hope."

A/N: So this was a pretty short chapter, but it had quite a bit of emotional moments in it. But don't worry, the next chapter will include a few of Sirius' brake-in attempts so some action is coming!


End file.
